Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 77

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Cancel culture: In these polarized times, and in light of recent events, are there any topics or viewpoints which you would not write about or which you think are off limits?

by Dietrich

I find an idea that grabs me and I put pen to paper, and I let that idea grow into a chapter, and on into a first draft. That initial spark needs to be strong enough to carry me through to the end.   

There are topics that I stray away from, and character types that hold no appeal for me. In the year or so that it ...

Could I? Would I?

 

Terry here, with our question of the week:
Cancel culture: In these polarized times, and in light of recent events, are there any topics or viewpoints which you would not write about or which you think are off limits? First of all, I dislike the phrase “cancel culture.” It has the connotation that there are a group of people, a “culture” that delights in mass shaming. I think people who most deride the idea of “cancel culture” seem to lack understanding that there are in fact behaviors that des...

The Outer and the Off Limits

Cancel culture: In these polarised times, and in light of recent events, are there any topics or viewpoints which you would not write about or which you think are off limits?

Brenda here.

So if I list topics or viewpoints that I would not write about, am I in fact writing about them?!  Hmmmm. Wish I studied philosophy when I had the chance.

This is actually a very relevant question and one worth pondering. During my writing career, I haven't steered away from any issues that crop up through the tel...

Straight Out Of A Dyslexic Brain By Josh Stallings

Warning, this post is unedited. Yep for circumstances beyond our control Erika didn’t see read or edit this before it went up. 

That’s not entirely true we had control we just chose to be present for our sons instead. This last week has been chocked full of minor and not so minor health events and road trips to LA and staying up all night to help a vile sick stomach work itself out. We choose to be present for our loved ones even if we have a deadlines looming.

It takes guts for dyslexic to fly wi...

Boucher (rhymes with voucher) Con, by Catriona rhymes with marina

The title of this post is offered in loving tribute to Jess Lourey, this year's co-toastmaster, along with Lori Rader Day. That's Jess Lourey rhymes with dowry, whose next book features a character called Claude rhymes with howdy.

You'll have gathered that I'm ducking this week's question in favour of a Bouchercon round-up. Okay?

I wasn't one of the ones newly released from solitary, falling on friends' necks like parched desert travellers finding an oasis (because I've already been to Left Coast ...

Waiting Room This Way... by Cathy Ace

 Tell us the things you hate/find frustrating about the publishing industry; and finish by telling us one thing you love about it.

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I’ve had an “interesting” relationship with publishers over the years. This – I have discovered – is far from unusual for authors. But you’ll also know that I use this space to speak frankly, so I shall continue in that vein today, as I answer our interesting question of the week…except that I’m going to turn the question on ...

Publishing. It’s strictly business by Gabriel Valjan

 

There were two pieces of music playing inside my head while I was writing this short essay on what I LOVE and HATE about the publishing industry. 

 

LOVE and HATE. These two words denote extremes. In my mind, they are the color red. Then because I live in the United States, which has the world’s most boring currency, publishing introduces the color of money, green. Mix red and green and you get brown—the perfect metaphor for turbidity and turpitude.

 

‘Do what you love, and ...

Bar Talk

 Q: Tell us the things you hate/find frustrating about the publishing industry; and finish by telling us one thing you love about it.

 

- from Susan

 

It’s a bit tricky to talk about what bothers me since I have a traditional publishing house. I am happy to be with them. If I diss my (wonderful) publisher now, that’s sticky, right? So, stepping back to the widest lens…

 

The large scale, industry-wide, rapidly changing, applicable to trad and self-publishing authors topic of distribution and sales is ...

Livin' the Dream

by Abir

Write what you know. How has your life shaped your writing? And how has your writing shaped your life? 

I’ve wanted to write since I was a teenager. Throughout those years and into my twenties, I wrote stories and started on several novels, none of which were any good and all of which stuttered to a halt after about ten thousand words. There were many reasons for the abortive nature of those attempts: fear; laziness; the fact that there were too many other things competing for my time and ...

Expatriate Life from James W. Ziskin

How has your life shaped your writing? 

This week’s question gives me the chance to discuss my years of living, working, and traveling in India, and how those experiences shaped the writing of my upcoming release, Bombay Monsoon (Oceanview, December 6, 2022). 

First some background on the novel:

The year is 1975. Danny Jacobs is an ambitious, young American journalist who’s just arrived in Bombay for a new assignment. He’s soon caught up in the chaos of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s domestic “Emer...