June Shaw's Blog, page 25

Sharing Your Reading Enjoyment

by Jackie King
Reading is a solitary pursuit. Nevertheless, after reading a story, book or poem that touches the heart or excites the senses, we yearn to share our pleasure or shock or wonder with someone who is likeminded.
You search your memory for a friend or acquaintance that is on the same wavelength and will be interested. You want someone who will respond with the same visceral reaction that you experienced so that you can expand your own pleasure with a discussion. Suddenly you reali...

Drinking Words

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Audio Books: The Next Publishing Wave

by Jean Henry Mead

Are audio books taking over the market, crowding out ebooks and print editions? If my latest royalty statements are any indication, my assumption is correct. A writer friend mentioned that his ebook sales had been cut in half during the past few months, as have mine, but that his audio books are selling well. 

I had submitted some of my own novels to an audio company, with no results, so I  decided to follow my friend's lead by applying to ACX.To my surprise, my fir...

Rum-runners on trial

by Carola

 At a signing last week for Heirs of the Body, at Mysterious Galaxy , [signed copies available; also from www.seattlemystery.com , http://www.mysteryink.com/ ,  http://www.bookem.com/ ], I was reminded of the part--small but essential--that rum-running plays in the story. I thought this would be a good moment to repost my blog written for Black Ship, an earlier Daisy Dalrymple mystery. "Rum-runners on trial" is interesting and pretty funny.

 In BLACK SHIP, the seventee...

Writer’s Block or Indolence?

by Bill Kirton
I suppose I’m lucky in that I’ve never suffered from the dreaded writer’s block. Whether it’s stories, novels, plays, blogs, reviews or writing commercial stuff to a deadline, I usually get quickly into the swing of it and get dragged along. Then, after staying away from whatever text it is for a while, I enjoy getting back to it and starting the editing/rewriting process.
Recently, though, I have experienced something like it. I started on the sequel to The Figureheadand, after...

Writing on a Cold Winter Morning

by Jackie King
Bloody January!

Snow, ice and freezing temperatures send a message to my body that it’s time to hibernate. Then I hear the annoying loud buzz of the alarm clock and know that I must get up and begin editing my (sort of) first draft. (I say sort of, because my characters keep changing the ending.) But my eyes won’t open. I force my lids into a tiny slit and everything that is gray, stark and chilling, frighten them shut. Surely the alarm must have been set wrong, I rationalize.
For...

Is it Lazy Old Man Syndrome?

By Chester Campbell

I'll have to confess, for the past few weeks I've been acting like an old man. Instead of working on a new book, I've been perched in my recliner watching TV movies, taking naps, and using my laptop to peruse Facebook and links to all kinds of weird articles. On most days I've headed to the mall for my two-mile walk, and I've done a bit of online promotion for my stable of published books.

But act like a motivated author and write something new?

Sorry.

It isn't writers block....

That Cherished Book

By Mark W. Danielson

I dare say that everyone has a book they cherish for one reason or another.  When I was a kid, I loved airplanes and never missed an episode of 12 O’Clock High, so it's no surprise that Edward Jablanski’s book, Flying Fortress was mine.  I loved that book, and not one single page was ever nicked or bent – until my mother loaded it out without asking.  Granted, not many kids cherish books, so what’s the harm?  I was crushed when my book came back se...<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]></div>

Was Author Isaac Asimov a Prophet?

Fifty years ago Isaac Asimov published his predictions for the year 2014 in The New York Times. Asimov had written more than 500 books during his career, among them science fiction novels and nonfiction scientific books, so it’s no surprise that he pondered the future. He wrote an article titled, “Visit to the World’s Fair of 2014,” and his guesstimates of what life would be like today are close to reality.
One of his predictions was that electroluminescent panels would be in common use....

Good news, and Happy 2014!

by Carola

The good news has been rolling in recently. Latest is that the 4th Daisy Dalrymple mystery, Murder on the Flying Scotsman, is now out in audio.

  
Last week I got a terrific review of the new Daisy mystery, Heirs of the Body, from ShelfAwareness.com

 "Heirs of the Body marks Daisy Dalrymple's 21st adventure. Dunn has kept her affable heroine--a writer turned amateur sleuth in 1920s England--lively and engaging throughout the traditional whodunit series. As Daisy's aristo...