Emily Senecal's Blog: Latest News and Notes, page 2
February 15, 2022
What makes a book good?
I’m currently reading a mystery about authors by arguably one of the most well-known novelists in the world, J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith. I’m finding Rowling’s commentary about the publishing industry, about writers and writing, an interesting subtext to the story, given her unique perspective in that regard. One fictional author is successful and another isn’t, one is considered “good” and the other “bad;” a romance writer’s work is described as “pornography” dressing up as histor...
September 15, 2021
Talking About Books
Talking About Books for a Worthy Cause
Now rescheduled for Oct. 13, 2021, the 9th Annual Gifting Grandmas’ Authors’ Luncheon
I’m excited and gratified to share that I’ve been invited to speak at the Gifting Grandmas’ Authors’ Luncheon benefiting the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery. This is a fantastic opportunity to support an organization I believe in, and to share my thoughts on writing and reading with a room full of people who also love books.
It’s truly an honor, and I hope to not only be an interesting guest, but also...
June 29, 2021
The Delights and Challenges of Dialogue
I feel like many authors would agree that dialogue is both a joy and a little bit of a nuisance to write. Conversations are such critical elements in fiction, allowing the characters to meet, interact, develop, perform, discover and figure out. For all the incredibly eloquent descriptions we might pour onto a page, for all the telling we do in paragraph form, expressing action or thoughts or settings or appearances, what the characters talk about makes a story interesting, compelling, relatable ...
June 1, 2021
NEW RELEASE: Dark Web of Deceit
The suspenseful sequel to Spiders in a Dark Web is now available on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and in paperback.
It’s been raining for weeks, delaying construction on Lola Bright and Peter Owen’s new home. After almost a year together, things are looking pretty sodden in their relationship, as well. Why is Peter so prickly and distant? When did she become jealous, and so full of doubts?
One text message changes everything. Lol...
May 4, 2021
Pivoting, reinventing, revisiting… rinse and repeat
“Pivoting” is one of those buzzwords you hear a lot lately, along with “new normal,” “reinventing” and “intentional”. They start to mean less the more you hear them, to the point that my partner and I snarkily joke how “intentional” we’re going to be about various things, like laundry or picking up the dog poop in the yard. I actually very much believe in the power of intentions and, I guess, being “intentional,” but it’s become jargon and that renders it somewhat empty.
I had a supervisor f...
March 12, 2021
The Slow Slogging Days
These are slow times in my marketing and writing, as I work through editing a manuscript and feel less than inspired to think of ways to publicize my work on social media or to set up new deals or promotions. Both inwardly (creatively) and outwardly (outreach to readers), I’m in a down cycle.
Editing always tends to slow things down for me; it’s an important and ultimately gratifying slog, but a slog all the same. The better I get at editing, the longer it takes, and the better the end result. ...
December 19, 2020
Brighten the darkest days of the year with two free books
2020 has been a lot of things… heartbreaking and shattering, upsetting and overwhelming, scary and confusing, inspirational and innovative and hopeful… giving us much to worry about and to mourn, many achievements to celebrate and embrace, and many things we’re glad to leave behind.
As the year winds down and our winter officially begins, for anyone who’d like to settle in on the couch under a blanket with a nice whiskey-laden nog (or hot cocoa, or tea, or wine, or possibly just whiskey if you’r...
June 18, 2020
A Row of Books
It’s been an incredibly strange time for all of us, strange and complicated and challenging, defined by fear, uncertainty, isolation, unity, unexpected blessings and unplanned burdens. In the first month or so of shelter in place, I found it difficult to get my scattered thoughts down in my journal, much less to work on any new fiction projects. One day I had a wild few hours of inspiration, several pages’ worth, and then it petered out. I have a major revision waiting on my latest book draft, b...
A row of books
It’s been an incredibly strange time for all of us, strange and complicated and challenging, defined by fear, uncertainty, isolation, unity, unexpected blessings and unplanned burdens. In the first month or so of shelter in place, I found it difficult to get my scattered thoughts down in my journal, much less to work on any new fiction projects. One day I had a wild few hours of inspiration, several pages’ worth, and then it petered out. I have a major revision waiting on my latest book draft, b...
