R.J. Minnick's Blog, page 9

The Inspiration for ‘Remainder’

the following post first appeared on REMAINDER’s book page. Having updated that part of the site, I am re-posting it here so that it can be read and archived.

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I wrote REMAINDER in response to a number of things. September 11. A  friend, who was also my daughters’ godfather, dying of pancreatic cancer. A desire to lift up a diverse community’s ability to get along, even during times of stress. Fracture lines don’t always have to be along lines of heritage.

It became a love story and a coming...

And the answer is…

The results are in. While it appears that my manuscript may have spent a little longer than some on the discussion table, ultimately Hallmark decided it was not suited to their needs.

Now, to be fair, I realized when I wrote it that a) maybe I just couldn’t write an excellent manuscript in that short a time and b) I had approached this from a direction that Hallmark doesn’t usually take. Which, honestly speaking, may have been my ace-in-the-hole excuse for if they didn’t accept it. We writers...

a ‘How do I get myself into these things’ update?

Okay. I was tempted to call this a Busy Person’s Update, but I could just hear someone saying out loud, “We’re all busy these days!” And they’d be right, But there’s phenomena at work here, at least for me, and it’s something I think we’ve all seen.

How the busy person, despite vows to the contrary, gets busier, no matter what.

I had come off a full year of ‘stuff’ in my life. Getting two books up on Amazon, some personal and family illness, house reno, doing my part on a group anthology, esc...

Comment on my previous post…re Finding One’s Way

re  Finding One’s Way

 

I began writing on December 30. As of today, in the morning, I have 4 chapters to go and have crossed the 52,000 word mark. I expect to have to add words during revision, plus the remaining chapters contain a lot. I expect to hit my word goal, I just don’t know when.

Heads Up! It’s a Party!

[image error]Just wanted to announce the Off the Page Writing group is holding a Book Signing on February 8 from 7-9 pm for our newly-published anthology: The Mayors’ Tales: Stories from the Kyleighburn Archives.

You can learn more about the event at the Mackenzie Wilder/Classic Boat mysteries page.

In addition to reading from and signing the anthology, our writers will have their other books on hand for purchase and signing. If you’re in the neighborhood, please drop by.

Finding One’s Way

Finding One’s WayI’ve written before about working on multiple projects.

This past  year I had a taste of what it was like to be locked into a large project with a deadline. One that involved co-writers (for the results of that project, see my post from December 16 Press Release: New Anthology).

I have to admit, while I liked working on the project itself – it was exciting! – I was anguished and frustrated over not being able to work on my other projects simultaneously. Next, of course, came...

Press Release: New Anthology

RJ MINNICK, December 15       [image error]

I am pleased to announce that THE MAYOR’S TALES: Stories from the Kyleighburn Archives is now available at Amazon.com as well as from its participating authors.

I have been lucky enough to participate in a project with a terrific local writing group called Off the Page. At the formation of the group, we were taken with the idea of building a world and populating it with characters whose stories we would tell in an anthology.

As Editor, I was thrilled with how ou...

With apologies and credit….

The following is taken from a shared facebook post and is a poem by Sean Thomas Dougherty from his newest book The Second O of Sorrow. 

It speaks to the question of why should one write

 

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Tip

3 Basic Rules for Starting New Paragraphs

Okay, so you want to write – a book, a story, an essay – whatever you want to write. But you have ZERO experience.  

You know pages have words on them, and they seem to be broken up into patterns called paragraphs, but how do you know when to do that? Here are the beginning rules. Use them to get started writing your work the way it should be written.

 

 Begin a new paragraph whenever you change speaker.

This means, in dialogue, one person says some...

Life’s a …. mystery

I don’t usually cross-post, but this topic has more than one direction. It also appears in a newsletter I compile for St. Paul’s in the Pines Episcopal Church.

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I like a mystery. I was raised on Agatha Christie and Mary Stewart. I watch them on TV. And, I write mysteries myself. So, why the profound interest in the fictional disasters and deaths of people I will never know?

Because in figuring out the puzzles in the stories, or creating puzzles for others, I get to explore human rela...