Terry Odell's Blog, page 64

More Stuff Happens

More Stuff Happens

As a followup to my “Stuff Happens” post—I normally don’t pay much attention to reviews, but now and then I’ll glance at the Amazon Author Central tab that shows recent reviews for my books at Amazon.

I saw a one-star review for Finding Sarah, which is a romantic suspense. The headline read “Not a Christian book” and complained about “swear words and soft porn” and how it should never have been categorized as a Christian book.

Not a Christian book? Well, it’s not supposed to b...

Labor Day Giveaway

Labor Day Giveaway

Today and tomorrow, I’m over at Just Romantic Suspense talking about writing books set in real places. I’ve got a giveaway over there, so stop by to say hi and enter for a chance to win some books.

If you’re celebrating Labor Day, be smart and stay safe.

The post Labor Day Giveaway appeared first on Terry Odell.

When the Writing Slows

When the Writing Slows

I’m back to writing. It’s still slow. There have been a lot of outside distractions, not only pandemic-related. Family members with health issues create frequent interruptions, and suck up brain cells. When it’s harder to focus on the writing, I turn to my critique partners. Between reading their work and offering my feedback, sending them my draft chapters, warts and all, and getting their feedback, I can narrow my focus.

“How will I ever get to the end of this book?” sho...

Men Are Not Women With Chest Hair – 2

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

I’m finishing up my Kill Zone post about some differences that are hard-wired into men and women, offering ways to make writing characters outside your gender more realistic. Last time it focused on physiology. Today, I’m looking at the social side.

I’m discussing some of the social differences between men and women. Again, these differences are based on physiological differences in the brain, but there are always going to be individual differences. There’s a b...

Stuff Happens

Stuff Happens

Image by sianbuckler from Pixabay

I did something I rarely do, which is a temporary price drop on a book. Given I have three full-length novels plus a short story collection available for free, if readers want to give me a try, they have choices. Also, quite honestly, my novels are priced at $3.99. I was looking at a new release from a favorite author and the digital version of his book was about $15.00.

I know of one author whose strategy is to offer a free book to newsletter subs...

Surprises and Expectations

Surprises and Expectations

Surprises can be good. But sometimes, they can ruin a read. I belong to a neighborhood book club, as much for the socialization (and wine) as for the books. If left to my own devices, I’d probably read nothing but mysteries, with a focus on police procedurals/private investigators a la Connelly, Crais, Sandford and the like.

My critique partners write in a variety of genres, so my horizons are expanded that way. I’ll also try new authors based on recommendations from f...

Seeking Editorial “Perfection”

Seeking Editorial “Perfection”

Being an indie author means taking responsibility for the entire book production process. That doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself—editing, cover art, formatting, uploading, marketing, etc.—can be hired out if you’re not comfortable with any of the skill sets required.

No matter who does the work, as the author, you want the best possible product you can provide, and that means a lot of editing steps. Here’s my process for Heather’s Chase.

For me, first, it...

Happy Book Birthday!

Happy Book Birthday!

It’s Release Day for Heather’s Chase

If you preordered Heather’s Chase, it should be on your e-reading device today. Thanks to everyone who placed their orders early. You sent the book into the top 100 New Releases in three Amazon categories.

Since I released Deadly Fun, my last book, on my birthday, it seemed fitting to release Heather’s Chase on my anniversary, especially since the book is set along the route of the 50th anniversary trip the Hubster and I took last year. ...

MurderCon Recap 5

Today’s Virtual MurderCon recap is of a session called Gazing into the Cloud presented by Stephen Pearson. He also presented a LOT of information, so I’ll try to share bullet points of my notes. Again, errors are mine.

Digital is part of our world.

He spoke of digital natives and digital immigrants. Those of us who have come into the digital world as adults are immigrants. The “kids” who grew up with digital are the natives. They take it for granted. We had to adjust. My kids got into digital re...

Men Are Not Women With Chest Hair

Men Are Not Women With Chest Hair

I’m over at The Kill Zone Blog today. My MurderCon recaps will continue on Friday.

As a writer of romantic suspense, one genre expectation is that stories are told from both the hero and heroine’s points of view. Writing characters outside one’s genre—and this isn’t restricted to the romance genre, or to major characters—is a challenge. As the title of this blog points out, men aren’t women with chest hair. There are some hard-wired differences, and understandi...