Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 37

Listening and Learning

 Q: Do you have favorite craft sessions, or articles/books on craft that you return to for inspiration or help?

-from Susan

 

At Left Coast Crime last week, a talented writer told me that something I said set her on a new and exciting fictional path. When she told me what resonated so much, it was something quite simple, nothing that I had polished or that I felt was original. It made me think, and it’s relevant to this week’s question.

 

You can hear the same message a hundred times and it runs righ...

Carry On Writing! By Harini Nagendra

What would make you quit writing? Age? Infirmity? Lack of what you consider success? Boredom? Something else?

My fellow '7 Minds' authors, Brenda, Terry and Dietrich, have already responded to this week's prompt - and I was struck by the fact that everyone plans to carry on writing until they absolutely can't. We are all writers because we must, because their is a worm of compulsion that burrows its way into our mind and screams at us, "Write!" - that forces us out of bed at midnight, keeps us up...

A Fondness for Truth, A Polizei Bern Novel by Kim Hays

Today, our guest post is from Kim Hays, a crime fiction author on the rise. She writes the gripping Polizei Bern procedural series, featuring Swiss cops Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatello. It’s one of the best detective series you’ll ever read. The setting is fresh and engaging, the themes current and relevant, and the rich ensemble cast of characters shines, especially Giuliana and Renato. Never far from boiling over, their mutual attraction simmers restlessly throughout the series, adding spi...

Not my story

What would make you quit writing? Age? Infirmity? Lack of what you consider success? Boredom? Something else?

by Dietrich

Death.

To put it another way, I’m planning for the long haul, so I tell myself the best is yet to come. And that’s easy to do when I think of the many greats who did their best work late in life — take George Orwell and Nineteen-Eighty-Four. Okay, he was on his deathbed, but he was around long enough to see his masterpiece published and rise to critical acclaim.

In spite of a wea...

Quit? Never.

 

Terry here, with the answer to the burning question: 
 What would make you quit writing? Age? Infirmity? Lack of what you consider success? Boredom? Something else? 
 I’ve often said that doctors will be ready to pull the plug on me, and I’ll yell, “Wait. Let me finish this paragraph.” 
 I guess that means the short answer is “nothing will make me quit writing.” I wrote before I ever had thoughts of being published. I’d write short stories or descriptions or scenes. It was my way of thinking. And ...

Twenty Years and Still No Quit

What would make you quit writing? Age? Infirmity? Lack of what you consider success? Boredom? Something else?

Brenda starting off the week.

This is a timely question as my 25th book Fatal Harvest is released today. This also marks 20 years since my first published book. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I've thought about stopping on a few occasions. Then I give my head a shake.

I love writing. When I'm away from the keyboard for a while, I still can't wait to get back. Of course infirmity would ca...

Never look back: Writing a serial novel, by Thomas Pluck

 

Thank you, Josh, for the opportunity to write this. The only thing more surprising to me than Josh liking a contemporary YA fantasy is that I wrote one. And here's the story of how that happened.

My latest book almost didn't happen because of the pandemic, and then only happened because of the pandemic. One of my friends and literary heroes is Lawrence Block, who has written books while on cruise ships, so I decided that my next book would be written while I embarked upon a grand circuit of the ...

That's just, like, your opinion, man.... by Eric Beetner

Business: I just found out that Publishers Weekly has let go of some its reviewers and is reviewing fewer mysteries. PW is one of the top reviewers. Which reviewers will take their place? Kirkus? Booklist? Library Journal? Or maybe some of the private reviewers. Do reviews matter to you? Do you think they influence readers? Who do you count on for reviews and why? 

Reviews are great if you trust the reviewer. These days it seems everyone is a critic. Some outlets have more caché, like Publisher’s...

When It's Personal and Business: Reviews

 

I just found out thatPublishers Weekly has let go of some its reviewers and is reviewing fewermysteries. PW is one of the top reviewers. Which reviewers will take theirplace? Kirkus? Booklist? Library Journal? Or maybe some of the privatereviewers. Do reviews matter to you? Do you think they influence readers? Whodo you count on for reviews and why?

 

Reviews matter, and then they don’t.

 

The question is whether the reason you’re reading reviews ispersonal or busin...

Where Have All the Reviewers Gone?

 Q: Publishers Weekly has let go of some its reviewers and is reviewing fewer mysteries. PW is one of the top reviewers. Which reviewers will take their place? Kirkus? Booklist? Library Journal? Or maybe some of the private reviewers. Do reviews matter to you? Do you think they influence readers? Who do you count on for reviews and why?

 

- from Susan

 

So many professional book review options have disappeared over the past 20 years that this is just another cut into the fabric of traditional book p...