Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 129

How Crafty Can You Be?

Terry here, answering our question on craft: Do you think about craft while you are writing? (how to construct good characters, settings, plot) Or do you just let her rip and worry about that “later?”

 

I’m afraid I’m always zeroed in one thing when I’m writing—getting the characters through their ordeal and to the end. I have great aspirations for being a “crafty” writer, but when I sit down to do a first draft, all those wonderful things I’ve learned in workshops, books about craft, and classes,...

Marketing Roadblocks in the Time of Covid

 This year has thrown us plenty of curveballs. Have you (and your publisher) adapted new ways to market your books?

Brenda Chapman blogging today.

It's safe to say that 2020 has proven to be a challenging time for authors in figuring out how best to market our books. A I wrote previously on this blogspot, my book Closing Time was released as the pandemic was shutting down shops and restaurants and people were going into lockdown. My publicist began working from home and her hours were cut. We tri...

I Don’t Recommend Books…But Try These

Do you recommend books to your fans? Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?

Guest Post by Jonathan Brown
Jonathan Brown
I’m (Paul) taking a break today. Filling in for me is my friend Jonathan Brown. Jonathan writes the Lou Crasher series of books. He’s also the author of two historical fiction books: A Boxing Trainer’s Journey about Angelo Dundee (released 2019). Also: Character Is What Counts about Vince Lombardi (comin...

Monday-Friday Reads (+ the weekend) by Catriona

 Reading:  Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?

Just a bit. I post about book mail as I open the parcels, bookshop hauls when I've been on a raid downtown, what I'm reading on #Fridayreads, what I'm going to read on #TBRThursday, and occasionally an actual review. (They're hard).

There are only two "rules". I won't say a bad word about a living writer. And it's always what I happen ...

NOT one size fits all...by Cathy Ace

Reading:  Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?

My answer to the first two parts of this week’s question is: If I’m asked, yes, but I’ll usually enquire about who else they enjoy reading before making any recommendations at all. You see, I used to enjoy reading books like the ones I write (surprise!) but my tastes nowadays (the past several years, not just since lockdown) are prett...

Recommending to Fans

 Reading:  Do you recommend books to your fans? Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?
From Frank

Do you recommend books to your fans? Absolutely! Sometimes it is the result of a reader asking about other books like mine, but most of the time it is something I do without prompting. This happens most frequently in social media.
I'm not great at SM. There are some masters out there that I really admire, who initiate things ...

My personal library these days

Q: Do you recommend books to your fans? Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?
-from Susan
My readers rarely ask me for recommendations unless I’m teaching, which I can’t do this year, alas, because we’re sheltering in place. But to friends, I am much more likely to recommend books outside of the crime fiction genre – new and especially exciting fiction, socially relevant non-fiction, fiction by international authors, hi...

The New (Ab)normal

 

From Abir

Who, or what, is keeping you relatively sane these days? Are you able to stay motivated? How?

So 2020’s not exactly turning out as expected. 

 

And it all started off so promisingly. You may remember one of my new year’s resolutions was to lose weight and get fit. I’d developed what we in the trade call ‘crime writer’s backside’ which is a real medical condition stemming from too much sitting down and typing while eating a ridiculous number of biscuits. 

This was affecting my self-esteem, ...

Staying Sane and Productive until the Sun Is over the Yardarm by James W. Ziskin

 Who, or what, is keeping you relatively sane these days? Are you able to stay motivated? How?

From Jim

I’ve managed to stay motivated and productive during the five months I’ve been in stir. I wrote a short story and a 115,000-word novel. Not bad. You can read about that in my recent posts. But how did I do it? Not sure. Maybe you can help me figure it out by studying my activities. I’ve listed them below in reverse order of frequency/quantity:

6. Walking. It’s been quite hot in the Boston area ov...

Living in a bubble

 Who, or what, is keeping you relatively sane these days? Are you able to stay motivated? How?

by Dietrich

I live in uninformed bliss, in a bubble you might say. I don’t read or watch the news. Let’s face it, there’s never much that’s uplifting in those headlines, and there’s just not much that I need to know. Besides, there’s always somebody around that’s willing to bring me up to speed on all the doom and gloom. “Hey, did you hear about …”

I stay motivated by keeping my head down and writing more...