Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 125

Special Guest Gin Jones on Estate Planning for Writers

New Year’s Resolution: Consult a lawyer

Death happens. You’re going to die someday, but your copyrights will live on, probably for seventy years after your death. There are laws for distribution of assets when a person dies without a will, but these laws are inadequate for dealing with things like copyrights, which will need to be actively managed for decades, and which are not easily divided among an expanding pool of heirs. To protect your copyrights better, you need a will.

Your will can app...

Tis the season…

As I sit in my office, my gaze drifts to the window where snowflakes are swirling and dancing in the crisp December air. A roaring fire crackles from the stone fireplace in an attempt to tug my attention from my white pristine lawn to the glaring blank sheet of paper poised and ready in the typewriter on my desk.

Okay, so I totally made that up. I’d like to say it could happen, but living in the south, not having a fireplace in my office, and not having a typewriter anywhere in my house, make...

Ruby Tuesday: Heather McCollum

Welcome back to another edition of Ruby Tuesday, our chance to get to know the Rubies a little better. Today on the hot seat we’re joined by multi-genre scribe Heather McCollum. Welcome, Heather!

Name: Heather McCollum

2009 GH Category & Title: MAGICK: Book Two of The Dragonfly Chronicles

What Happened to That Book: It sold to The Wild Rose Press along with the other four books in the series. The fourth book: SURRENDER has just been released!

Website: www.HeatherMcCollum.com

What subgenre(s) do yo...

Give Me Just One Reason

Ah, as I pen this post I’m surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of the holiday season.

Several weeks ago my husband and I climbed into the attic and trudged down with a bajillion boxes of Christmas decorations. There were wreaths, two trees, outside lights, centerpieces, stockings and fancy trappings of a holiday that seems to expand more and more each year. I dutifully fluffed branches, refastened glittering bows and searched for those darn ornament hooks (where DO those suckers disapp...

Happy Holidays from The Story Masters!

In early November, I gave myself an early holiday gift: a four-day writing workshop with The Story Masters!

I mean, COME ON. Look at this instructor lineup! And within a 50 mile drive of where I live?! I was SO there.

Though I highly recommend everyone experience this awesome workshop for themselves – the next scheduled session is Feb. 5-8, 2014, in Atlanta! - I thought I’d provide an early gift to our readers by passing along some of the tips and exercises I took away from each instructor.

From...

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

This scenario should sound familiar. You’re at a cocktail party with a group of people who are not your closest friends, and someone asks you what you do for a living. You decide to say “author,” because your day-job is something boring like bookkeeping. Saying author gets a much more positive response.

When I tell people I’m an author they immediately want to know about my books, my pen name, and then they almost always ask the question: “Where do you get your ideas?”

I used to scoff at this q...

It is Better to Have Loved and Lost…

So I’ve had this love affair with grammar ever since I can remember. In school, I relished writing research papers and making sure the punctuation and sentence structure were just right. I cherished being able to tell the difference between an adjective and an adverb. I loved the way sentence diagrams looked laid out on the page. How orderly my little world seemed. Everything had its place. I made good grades, because I always tried to follow the rules. If I wasn’t sure of something, I could...

Ruby Tuesday: Cate Rowan

Welcome back to another Ruby Tuesday, the day when we get to know one of our Rubies a little bit better. Today we head west to put one of our resident fantasy romance authors on the hot seat. Please help me welcome the fabulous Cate Rowan! Take it away, Cate.

Name: Cate Rowan

2009 GH Category & Title: Paranormal, Kismet’s Kiss: A Fantasy Romance

What Happened to That Book: Sold to a small publisher, then contract cancelled before publication. Self-published in 2010.

Website: http://CateRowan.com

W...

Down But Not Out

How the heck do you write when you’re down?

Yes, it’s the happiest time of year, so why have I asked this question? Not to bring you down. I asked because the Rubies are all about helping other writers and because while the holidays are pumped up by the advertising industry as being the happiest time of year, sadly for many they’re not. I ask because no one is safe from life’s crap and at some point (holiday or no holiday) you might need the advice I hope will be shared here.

I suffered a great...

Foreign Affairs: An Interrogation Report for Suspected Russian Spy

SUBJECT: Ex-KGB Agent Nikolai Markov, hero of THE RUSSIAN TEMPTATION by Nikki Navarre

State secrets have never been this sexy.

INTERROGATOR: CIA Agent James Riley, hero of AN AFFAIR OF DECEIT by Jamie Michele
LOCATION: CIA Interrogation Facility, Washington, D.C.
DATE: Yesterday

RILEY: Given these anomalies in your travel documents and your, ah, colorful history, you’ll understand why we need to ask a few questions, Mr. Markov. Mind if I call you Nikolai?

MARKOV (lighting a Gauloise cigarette): I’d...