Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 170

From a blank page

Real life happens around us while we play in the imaginary ones we create. How do you keep yourself in the writing zone and out of the ruts? Are there tricks to staying focused, especially at this time of year?
by Dietrich
I hope everyone had a terrific Holiday and New Year. For me, it’s time to get my head back into the writing, and the key is to just sit down and start the next story, allowing myself to get inspired as themes and plots take shape and as characters develop and new ones come to...

Treating it like a job

By R.J. Harlick
Real life happens around us while we play in the imaginary ones we create. How do you keep yourself in the writing zone and out of the ruts? Are there tricks to staying focused, especially at this time of year?  
Over the years I’ve developed various techniques for immersing myself into Meg’s world.  The most important technique from day one has been to treat writing like a job by establishing set times for writing. Once breakfast is finished, I change i...

Zoning In - by Brenda Chapman

Question: Real life happens around us while we play in the imaginary ones we create. How do you keep yourself in the writing zone and out of the ruts? Are there tricks to staying focused, especially at this time of year?  
Happy New Year, everyone! After a few weeks of entertaining, overeating and sleeping in, this week's question is most appropriate. 
The most effective way that I've found to keep my writing schedule on track is to have a minimum daily word count of 500 wor...

Can You Judge a Book by its Cover?

What makes a great book cover? Is it the title or the graphics? Do you have favorites that you think work?

by Paul D. Marks

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but its cover might just be what draws you into it in the first place. The thing that makes you pluck it off the shelf and crack that cover to see if it’s something you might want to read. So, covers are definitely important.

As to what makes a good book cover, the title or graphics, I think it’s both. An intriguing title makes me want t...

It could be worse . . . except when it couldn't.

Yeek.

It's nearly eleven o'clock in the morning on the west coast and I've just realised I haven't blogged on my allotted day. What a typical start to a new year.

So here's a word-light, pic-heavy look at some book jackets. Forgive me.

I do pay attention to book jackets. I like a waxy or sugar-almond finish - not shiny - and I've got a soft-spot for a jacket where the design is almost all in the font. Like this recent addition to my TBR pile:



Isn't it lovely? It's about an agony aunt during WWII,...

Cover ART! by Cathy Ace

Business: What makes a great book cover? Is it the title or the graphics? Do you have favorites that you think work?
I honestly think the title, the subject/type of book, the artwork and the typography have to work as one to do the best job possible. But this – as you know – is my confessional, so I am taking today as my chance to sing the praises of my favourite cover artist of all time – Tom Adams. And I'll be honest - for me, the typography is "in its place" on the covers he created, as opp...

Pssst. Want to See What's Inside?

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Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?

Q: What makes a great book cover? Is it the title or the graphics? Do you have favorites that you think work? 
-from Susan
I think both title and graphics are important. With titles, they say shorter is better, but I wonder. It’s hard to keep them separate or make them distinguishable as a brand when they are words like INTERLOPER, THUNDER, STRIKE, SECRETS, etc. Maybe I’m prejudiced but one exception to that general complaint is the series by Reece Hirsch about cyber crime, in which t...

Season's Greetings from 7 Criminal Minds

Year End Reading Picks

Okay let’s have it. Your favourite end-of-year reading recommendations.

Books that stood out for me in 2019:


I have gone on about Travis Richardson's work being in the vanguard of short story writers irrespective of genre. Everyone knows this, what with the numerous award nominations and now a successful self-published short fiction collection. What makes Bloodshot and Bruised an achievement is how its stories frames each of the characters in their humanity, including frailty and confusion. We'...