Kassandra Lamb's Blog, page 38
March 13, 2017
Taking Risks and Reaching Out
by Kassandra Lamb
(photo by Andreas Praefcke, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia) Commons)
Shannon Esposito and I are doing our happy dance again, because we have a new member in our misterio press group.
But I must say that we approached the idea of inviting this new author with some trepidation. Not because we didn’t think she would be great (we did), but because it had been awhile since we’d brought in someone new.
Our little group had gotten quite cozy and comfy with each other. Did we really want t...
March 6, 2017
Inner Beauty vs. the Ugliest of Emotions
by Kassandra Lamb
This post is part of the 2017 Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, sponsored by the wonderful August McLaughlin. Please go to her site to see the other great posts in this wonderful event—some are funny, some are serious, all are entertaining and informative.
Physical beauty has little to do with attractiveness for me. I’m much more focused on inner beauty. And inner beauty is emotional (and is reflected in the person’s body language). Is the person warm and kind and seems comfortab...
February 28, 2017
3 Reasons Why a Sleuth Can Never Take a Vacation
by Kathy (K.B.) Owen
Ah, the chance to get away from it all. Our sleuth (amateur or otherwise) is more than ready to leave the bustle behind and relax, dig her toes in the sand, perhaps sip a cool beverage beside the water. Not a care in the world.
Nope. Not gonna happen. The mystery writer is there to ruthlessly yank that illusion away. Bwahaha.
Why so heartless? Because vacationing is the perfect occasion for mayhem and murder. Here are three reasons why:
State of mind.
No one wants to dea...
February 20, 2017
Where The Research Takes Us: How To Kill Your Characters
Kass here to tell you about today’s guest blogger, cozy mystery writer Gilian Baker, who is about to release her debut novel, Blogging Is Murder (which I review below).
She will entertain us with a fun little post on how to kill one’s characters (I swear, the FBI is going to come knocking any day now).
First, let’s get to know Gilian a bit…
Gilian Baker is a former writing and literature professor who finally threw in the towel and decided to just show ‘em how it’s done. She has gone on to f...
February 17, 2017
8 Tips for Short and Sweet Descriptions in Fiction
by Kassandra Lamb
For the writers among our subscribers, I’m over at The Write Stuff today, talking about some of the best ways to make descriptions of settings and characters as efficient as possible. I’ve included some interesting info I learned as a psychologist and college professor, about how people process input through their senses.
8 Tips for Short and Sweet Descriptions in Fiction
A few deft strokes often will suffice.
While editing the book I’m releasing tomorrow, and especially whi...
February 13, 2017
Love Mellowed
by Kassandra Lamb
Love, like cheese and wine, tends to get better with age, in a mellow kind of way. Oh yes, it can go in the direction of moldy or potentially turn into vinegar, but more often than not, it mellows into a very deep friendship.
My favorite model for understanding love (if one can ever understand love) comes from a psychologist named Robert Sternberg. He put a whole new twist on the concept of a love triangle.
First he distilled love down into three components: passion, intima...
February 6, 2017
February, the Runt of Months
by Kassandra Lamb
Contemplating this month of February that we’ve just entered got me thinking about being the shortest or smallest in a group—a team, a classroom, a family, etc.
We humans are fairly obsessed with size, as if that’s some indicator of power and, in turn, worth. Small equals powerless equals unworthy.
Photo by Torsten Bolten CC-BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons
Big equals better. Bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger you-know-whats…
Look at football players. Definitely bigger is better,...
January 30, 2017
Are You S.A.D. in the Winter? (encore)
by Kassandra Lamb
Since I’m up to my eyeballs in three different editing projects, I figured now would be a good time for an encore presentation of a previous post, and this topic is always worth mentioning this time of year.
I hate talking about depression because, well, it’s depressing. But if you’re one of those folks who gets S.A.D. in the winter, or you know someone who does, you may appreciate this post.
I’m talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder, i.e., folks who start getting more...
January 23, 2017
Making the Case for Indie AND Traditional Publishing (For Writers and Readers)
by Kassandra Lamb
I envy writers under thirty. Not for their youth, but because they have never known a publishing world where indie publishing wasn’t a viable alternative.
But I’ve heard even some younger writers make comments that indicate they think indie is what you do if you can’t get a traditional publishing contract. In other words, it’s a second choice.
Actually, for some of us, it was a first choice.
And sadly there are a few traditionally published authors who like to judge indies f...
January 16, 2017
Creativity, Sensitivity, Laziness and Courage
by Kassandra Lamb
Please note that this is not a post about the pros and cons of indie vs. traditional publishing per se (I will cover those in a later post). Rather this post is about the “between a rock and a hard place” spot where new writers often find themselves as they explore how to get their words in front of readers’ eyes.
The indie vs. traditional publishing controversy was resurrected in December, 2016, by a Huffington Post article with the rather obnoxious title, Self-Publishing:...
