Terry Odell's Blog, page 60

The Trials of an Aging Brain

The Trials of an Aging Brain

Many, many, many years ago, in 7th grade English class, Miss Cook made us all memorize poems and recite them in front of the class. It usually took me about 3 days to memorize them. I can probably recite most of those today—at least I could if someone reminded me what they were.

Fast forward to a week ago, when my daughter asked if I would read a passage at her wedding ceremony this weekend. It will be a Colorado pandemic thing—both of them have been married before, ...

Another Fun Break

I finished the “last” pass of my manuscript before sending it to my editor. The book description is still hanging over my head. But it’s the holiday season, and I’m up for another fun break before I work on it.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy your day. Hope you found a smile.

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Not Much New to Report

Not Much New to Report

Not much new going on, other than editing and a Zoom family candle-lighting. My son walked my moms caregiver through getting Zoom on her iPhone, so Mom was able to join us, even if we were hard to see on the small screen. Im not 100% sure she understood that we werent really together, that all of us were in our own homes, but it was gratifying to know we gathered 4 generations together for a short, virtual time. Because of the pandemic, nobody can visit her, and shes...

Progress Report, a Cover, and a Gift.

Progress Report, a Cover, and a Gift.

 

Those of you who subscribed to my newsletter got the first look at the cover for Deadly Options. Thanks to the talented Kim Killion for her ideas and work on this one.

Things are moving along with my editing pass. Im running it through SmartEdit, finding all those useless words.

Many times, repeated words are ones that have several usages, such as back. Theyre going to show up more often than single-meaning words, but I still look at them. (SmartEdit...

Why Resolutions Fail – And More

Why Resolutions Fail And More

Today is my last post at The Kill Zone for 2020.  Im talking about why resolutions dont work and an approach more likely to be successful.

Im also giving away a gift over there, so dont spend any more time here. Get thee to The Kill Zone.

 

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Book Descriptions Are a “Challenge”

Book Descriptions Are a Challenge

I was going to title todays post with something stronger, but figured it wouldnt be appropriate. I finished my first round of edits, signed a contract with my editor, contacted my cover artist and narrator. Now for the Dreaded Blurb. This is the copy that would go on the back cover, and on all the book description pages at the e-tailers.

Writing a book is much easier than summarizing the key points in a way that will entice readers. It requires more of a...

Progress Report

Progress Report

An update on my progress with the next Mapleton book. I did hit “The End” on the manuscript. I think it’s going to be called Deadly Options.

I did my usual ‘change the font, print in two columns’ for my first editing pass on the manuscript. I’m about halfway through my read. My critique partners have six more chapters to read, and they should have them by the weekend.

I’ve been surprised that I haven’t seen a lot of major things that need work. My fear is always that I’m not read...

Unscrupulous Reviewers Hunting Sarah?

Unscrupulous Reviewers

Time out for a rant today. I think I’ve discovered a band of unscrupulous reviewers at Amazon. Recently, I’ve noticed one of my books, Finding Sarah, has been getting a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews. The wording has been everything from variations on “I didn’t like it” to “This was a good book.” I know people often have their own rating system, and ignore what the stars at Amazon mean, but I was curious, so I looked into the profiles of these “reviewers.”

For almost all of t...

Approaching “The End”

Approaching “The End”

I hope everyone had a safe and sensible Thanksgiving weekend. I’m approaching the end of my new Mapleton mystery, and it’s time to wrap up all the loose threads. At this point in the book, I have a darn good idea of how everything’s supposed to play out, which makes it the closest I come to writing with a plot in mind. The writing goes much faster, and I’m writing almost double my former word count goal.

What happens when I get to ‘The End’?

First, I have to wait for my cri...

Have a Sensible and Safe Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope your celebration is a sensible one. Staying home this year makes it more likely we can all get together next year.

And here’s a family tradition shared by many others

 

And here’s an interesting article – Arlo Guthrie’s thoughts on the 50 year anniversary tour of Alice’s Restaurant.

And, for anyone who’s looking for a writing post, I’m over at The Kill Zone Blog talking about using that.

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