Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 205
August 23, 2017
August 22, 2017
Another New Leaf - by R.M. Greenaway
How has the writing life changed me as a person?
As Susan talked about yesterday, the huge change for me is community. As a youngster I had a very small circle of friends, and at times a circle of one - me. Not in a mournful way -- I was content. I grew up, worked, married, and we have a son, and for years that was about the extent of my social life. Again, I was content. I began to write, though. Probably part of me did yearn for a larger world. So I created these people living exciting lives...
Published on August 22, 2017 05:10
August 21, 2017
An out of season valentine
Q: (Besides getting rich) how has the writing life changed you as a person?
-from Susan
A: Sorry to be late posting today. I could blame it on the eclipse but that would be a lie...I want to get serious for a minute with my answer. In 2008, my wonderful life partner died. I had just begun to query agents about my first novel - maybe sent 3 letters - before his illness went into its critical phase. Of course, everything else stopped while I had the privilege of caring for him.
He died...
-from Susan
A: Sorry to be late posting today. I could blame it on the eclipse but that would be a lie...I want to get serious for a minute with my answer. In 2008, my wonderful life partner died. I had just begun to query agents about my first novel - maybe sent 3 letters - before his illness went into its critical phase. Of course, everything else stopped while I had the privilege of caring for him.
He died...
Published on August 21, 2017 10:43
August 18, 2017
My Trick Is To Keep Everything By Keeping Nothing
Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?
I remember a conversation via blog I had with Dietrich and the awesome Sam Wiebe about this. I mentioned how some authors have papers, but I have data. If I write anything down longhand on paper, Post-Its, in grease pencil on the windowsill like John Nash (or Russell Crowe doing his best John Nash,) I'll never look at it again. The c...
I remember a conversation via blog I had with Dietrich and the awesome Sam Wiebe about this. I mentioned how some authors have papers, but I have data. If I write anything down longhand on paper, Post-Its, in grease pencil on the windowsill like John Nash (or Russell Crowe doing his best John Nash,) I'll never look at it again. The c...
Published on August 18, 2017 21:08
August 17, 2017
"One of these days, I'm gonna get organiz-ized!"
James W. Ziskin
"Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?”
I quote the poster from Taxi Driver every now and then to remind myself how disorganizized I really am. As a writer, I pride myself on being a plotter, not a pantser, so I'd naturally like to believe that I'm organized. The truth, however, is that I am not. I plot out my stories in advance precisely because I’m disorganized an...
"Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?”

I quote the poster from Taxi Driver every now and then to remind myself how disorganizized I really am. As a writer, I pride myself on being a plotter, not a pantser, so I'd naturally like to believe that I'm organized. The truth, however, is that I am not. I plot out my stories in advance precisely because I’m disorganized an...
Published on August 17, 2017 00:01
August 16, 2017
The bits and pieces
Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?
by Dietrich Kalteis
I don’t plot or outline my stories, it’s all seat-of-the-pants stuff, but under the surface I’m fairly organized. Electronic files and folders, that’s the key. I keep a general file on my computer for each category of what I write: novels, short stories, screenplays, etc. Then there are sub-folders for the drafts, edits, fin...
by Dietrich Kalteis
I don’t plot or outline my stories, it’s all seat-of-the-pants stuff, but under the surface I’m fairly organized. Electronic files and folders, that’s the key. I keep a general file on my computer for each category of what I write: novels, short stories, screenplays, etc. Then there are sub-folders for the drafts, edits, fin...
Published on August 16, 2017 00:00
August 15, 2017
My mother would be amazed
By R.J. Harlick
Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?
Yup, I do collect a lot of stuff, particularly when I send Meg to a wilderness that is new to me. I find during my research trips I collect no end of information from maps and brochures to notebooks filled with observations and interviews. I like to speak to as many local people as I can to get a good feel for the place, so that...
Writers gather a huge miscellany of info - drafts, notes, contracts, plot ideas, pix, reviews, etc; do you have any tricks for keeping it all organized?
Yup, I do collect a lot of stuff, particularly when I send Meg to a wilderness that is new to me. I find during my research trips I collect no end of information from maps and brochures to notebooks filled with observations and interviews. I like to speak to as many local people as I can to get a good feel for the place, so that...
Published on August 15, 2017 00:30
August 14, 2017
Organization Tricks
Terry Shames, here, giving some hints about how I deal with:
BUSINESS: Tricks for staying organized.
Hahahahahahaha.
Excuse me while I try to gain control of my hysterical laughter.
Tricks? No. Hard-won methods? Sort of.
I used to be organized. I used to write lists, do tasks at once so they wouldn’t back up, and generally have control of my life. That was before I became a published writer. Who knew being published took up so much time and energy. Here’s how I thought it worked: write a bo...
BUSINESS: Tricks for staying organized.
Hahahahahahaha.
Excuse me while I try to gain control of my hysterical laughter.
Tricks? No. Hard-won methods? Sort of.
I used to be organized. I used to write lists, do tasks at once so they wouldn’t back up, and generally have control of my life. That was before I became a published writer. Who knew being published took up so much time and energy. Here’s how I thought it worked: write a bo...
Published on August 14, 2017 01:30
August 11, 2017
The Times They Are A-Changin’
The world is changing faster than you can write - technologically, politically, environmentally etc. How do roll with the changes in your fiction?
by Paul D. Marks
I don’t really think about it. We’re just immersed in those things so they make their way into what we write by osmosis. As long as we’re not living in a cave these changes just become part of our daily lives and thus our writing.
However, It’s true that the world is changing faster than we can write. Between the time we write somethi...
by Paul D. Marks
I don’t really think about it. We’re just immersed in those things so they make their way into what we write by osmosis. As long as we’re not living in a cave these changes just become part of our daily lives and thus our writing.
However, It’s true that the world is changing faster than we can write. Between the time we write somethi...
Published on August 11, 2017 00:01
August 10, 2017
The Drumbeat of War
The world is changing faster than you can write - technologically, politically, environmentally etc. How do you roll with the changes in your fiction? by CatrionaI thought I was being so jammy - setting a book in 1922 - no forensics, no mobile phones, no computers to worry about getting right. Hemlines, menus and current events were a doddle in comparison.
There are three things you get wrong at your peril when writing about any period though: trains, birds and guns. There wil...

There are three things you get wrong at your peril when writing about any period though: trains, birds and guns. There wil...
Published on August 10, 2017 00:22
7 Criminal Minds
A collection of 10 writers who post every other week. A new topic is offered every week.
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