James M. Jackson's Blog, page 8

Introducing Megan McCree

On February 7, 2017, I’ll be introducing a new member of the Seamus McCree extended family to the reading world. Her creation did not come easily, and I worried whether I was doing her justice. Let me explain.
Megan first entered my consciousness four years ago. I wrote the first 40,000 words of a novel set in the future. The YA main character had an older sister, a real tomboy. I thought the kids would be Seamus McCree’s distant descendants (just to keep it all in the fictional family). As I...

Making Your Goals SMART

The beginning of a new year means for many the beginning of new goals. Gyms will be filled with people intent on getting into shape; weight-loss reduction programs will experience a spike in memberships; budgets will be crafted to curb “unneeded” spending and allow more savings for retirement or college or whatever. Flash forward three months and most of the goals are distant memories over which we feel guilty. Gym equipment languishes unused, some of the weight lost in January has returned b...

An Open Letter to President-Elect Trump and the Members of the 115th Congress (on repealing Obamacare)

An Open Letter to President-Elect Trump and the Members of the 115th Congress
RE: Repealing “Obamacare”
Beginning January 20, 2017 with the inauguration of President Trump, a vote to repeal Obamacare moves from political posturing to potential reality as the assured veto of prior bills by President Obama is no longer available. I urge members of the 115th Congress and President-Elect Trump to consider the real and varied consequences of any changes to the current programs.
Public reports indicat...

Nupur Tustin - Guest Author

Nupur Tustin is a former journalist who says she misuses a Ph.D. in Communication and an M.A. in English to orchestrate mayhem in Haydn's Austria. She also writes music. Her 1903 Weber Upright is responsible for that crime. I first met Nupur in the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
What is the background noise when you write and why is it there?
I'm so glad you ask. I hear the squeals, shrieks and squabbles of two rambunctious toddlers interspersed with the intermittent indignant cries of thei...

Susan Van Kirk - Guest Author

Susan Van Kirk, a Midwest author, just released her second Endurance mystery, Marry in Haste. This follows Three May Keep a Secret (2014) and a novella, The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney. I first met Susan in the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, Inc. where she serves with me as a member of the Steering Committee.
What is the background noise when you write and why is it there?
I occasionally write while I’m listening to classical music. No lyrics. But more often, I write in complete...

Six Pointers in Writing a Novella

Do you read instruction manuals before you start? After you’ve hit a snag? What are instruction manuals?
I know it’s a stereotype that all guys are loathe to read instruction manuals on the theory that they should know better. But stereotypes are based on observed behavior, and as the saying goes, “If the shoe fits, wear it!” I know what instruction manuals are, but often use them only as reference manuals to figure out where the leftover part belongs and how many steps I need to redo.
I’m in t...

Amber Foxx - Guest Author

Amber Foxx (a fellow member of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in crime) is a college professor, yoga teacher, and author of the award-winning Mae Martin Psychic Mystery series. She spends the academic year in Virginia and summers in New Mexico.
What is the background noise when you write and why is it there?
Noise? What noise? The silence is there because that’s where the deepest feelings and ideas live, a place that’s hard to reach with a lot of external stimuli in the way. I can’t write with mu...

Cassandra Sky West - Guest Author

Hello, my name is Cassandra Sky West I have been creating worlds and telling stories since I was 12 years old and now I get paid for it. I have had the privilege of joining a fine group of authors who are published by Kindle Press (which is where I met my host Jim Jackson). [Ed. Note: Cassandra answered more than 10 questions, but what the heck, today’s her book’s birthday, so let’s all help her celebrate!]
You have an all-expense-paid long weekend to spend with three guests. The Starship Ente...

Vickie Fee - Guest Author

Vickie Fee is the author of the Liv and Di in Dixie mystery series. She blesses hearts and makes Jack Daniels whiskey balls that’ll scorch your tonsils. She’s a fellow member with me of both the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association.
What is the background noise when you write and why is it there?
Usually it’s just the whir of the air conditioner in the summer and the popping sounds of the radiant heater in the winter. I’ll resort to instru...

Author’s Toolbox: The Auditory Read Through

Every author develops a toolkit containing writing skills and techniques, preferred software and hardware, and proven processes to develop a polished manuscript. I’d like to suggest authors add the Auditory Read Through to their stockpile of available tools.If you are like most modern authors, you compose your first draft using a word-processing program, which means you first see your words on a screen. You may rewrite your manuscript using a screen to display your text, or you may print out...