Lisa Shiroff's Blog

Beware the Book Pirates!

(And Why Copyright Is Your Cutlass) Let’s get one thing straight: when I say “book pirates,” I don’t mean charming, rum-soaked rogues with eye patches and parrots. No, darling. I mean bottom-feeders with Wi-Fi, low morals, and nothing better to do than steal your hard-earned words. And yes—it happens. More often than you think. Pirate […]

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Writing a Memoir: Finding Your Unique Story

Let’s clear something up: a memoir is not your life story from cradle to now. That’s an autobiography. (Or, if someone else writes it after you’re gone, a biography.) A memoir is narrower, sharper, juicier. It’s about a particular change in your life—an era, an event, a transformation. It’s not about every grocery list, job […]

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The Dirty Little Secret About Fiction (Yes, It’s Formulaic)

Few writers like to admit it, but let’s rip off the velvet curtain: good fiction is formulaic, which some refer to as having a narrative arc. Shocking? Maybe. True? Absolutely. Because if we confess that stories follow formulas, it means—gasp—we’re all writing variations of the same tale. And you know what? We are. That’s not […]

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Stop Quoting Beyoncé in Your Book (Unless You’re Prepared to Pay Her Lawyers)

For reasons that remain a mystery to me—perhaps buried somewhere between karaoke and heartbreak—roughly 65% of the manuscripts I see come sprinkled with someone else’s song lyrics. I get it. Lyrics pack an emotional punch. They anchor us to an era, sketch a character’s mood, and set a scene with a single line. Unfortunately, they […]

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Can You Write a Book With AI?

The quick answer? Yes, darling, of course you can.The better answer? Wrong question. The real question is: “Should I use AI to write my book?”And the answer to that is a royal shrug: It depends. What Exactly Are You Writing, My Dear? If you’re whipping up a pamphlet—something breezy to hand out to clients, like […]

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Why Write a Book?

Nonfiction book, that is. Darling, let’s cut to the chase: you don’t write a book because you fancy becoming the next Dickens, Hemingway, or that girl who wrote Twilight in her downtime. No, you write a book because it’s the single most dazzling, gloriously impractical-yet-practical move you can make for your business, reputation, and legacy. […]

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On Writing: Jennette McCurdy and Author Voice

(For the my review of I’m Glad My Mom Died, click here.) In my review, I mentioned that one of the things I loved about this book is the way McCurdy manipulated the language to be reflective of the age she was writing about while maintaining her personal voice throughout. When talking about the “voice” […]

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I’m Glad My Mom Died (review)

book by Jennette McCurdy Genre: Scale: For Fans of What is it about? Caveat: I live under a pop-culture rock. I had no idea who Jennette McCurdy was prior to reading her book. I had never seen any of the TV shows she was on and never heard her music. And I’m kind of glad […]

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Virgin Island Creole English

Virgin Islands Creole English

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St. Thomas Photos (Before Maria)

Photos of St. Thomas, USVI, from the scenes in Revenge Cafe.

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