Terry Odell's Blog, page 92
September 16, 2018
Colorado Gold Conference Recap 4 – James Scott Bell Part 3
RMFW Colorado Gold Conference Recap 4 – James Scott Bell Part 3
I’m continuing with James Scott Bell’s workshop on Writing a Novel They Can’t Put Down, which was an all-day intensive workshop at the Colorado Gold Conference. If you missed part 1 of my notes, you can find it here. Part 2 is here. Any errors are mine, either through misinterpretation or sloppy note-taking.
The next section of his workshop dealt with Structure.
September 13, 2018
Colorado Gold Recap 3 – James Scott Bell Workshop Part 2
RMFW Colorado Gold Conference Recap 3, James Scott Bell Part 2
I’m continuing with James Scott Bell’s workshop on Writing a Novel They Can’t Put Down, which was an all-day intensive workshop at the Colorado Gold Conference. If you missed part 1 of my notes, you can find it here. Any errors are mine, either through misinterpretation or sloppy note-taking.
After introducing the Mirror Moment, Bell went on to talk about Plot. And even if you don’t know it in advance, your story has to have one w...
September 11, 2018
Colorado Gold Recap 2 – James Scott Bell Workshop Part 1
At the Colorado Gold Conference, I had the extreme pleasure of attending an all day intensive class given by James Scott Bell. I first “met” Bell through his posts at The Kill Zone Blog, and was delighted to have a chance to meet him in person.
What I’m recapping today is merely a portion of his workshop, Writing a Novel They Can’t Put Down. Once again, my recaps are condensations of the sessions I attend, and any errors are mine, either because I misinterpreted, or couldn’t type fast enough...
September 9, 2018
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Recap 1
Before I begin my recaps of the Colorado Gold Conference, I’ll mention that today is Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the year 5779. L’shana Tovah to those who celebrate. Have a good year.
This post was written before the holiday, in my room while I was out of town.
I attended the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold conference last week. This conference is a little different from the ones I normally attend because it’s focused on “Fiction” writing, whereas I generally go to conference...
September 2, 2018
Do Writers Get Holidays?
It’s Labor Day today, a holiday for many, although I often joke, “What’s a holiday?” As an empty-nester who no longer has a “day job,” I find days tend to be tracked as “Laundry Day” “Garbage Day” or “Yoga Day” rather than the days of the week most people use. Weekends? Not really. So, a holiday like Labor Day doesn’t impact my routine much.
Even though today’s a holiday from day jobs for many, I’ll be following my normal routine. Now that Deadly Assumptions is out in the world, it’s time to...
August 30, 2018
Deadly Assumptions is Live!
Deadly Assumptions is Live!
Sometimes things work out better than planned. In order to make sure Deadly Assumptions was available for my projected September 1st release, I started the upload process on the 28th.
Most channels want 72 hours before a book goes live. Imagine my surprise when I got notifications that it was up and ready that same day!
Of course, nothing is perfect. Due to an oversight on my part, it’s not live at iBooks, but it IS available for preorder and will be live on the 1s...
August 28, 2018
Instant Pot Artichokes With Dipping Sauce
Instant Pot Artichokes With Dipping Sauce
Hubster thought he’d try making artichokes in the Instant Pot. My mom always made them in a pressure cooker, and since we didn’t have one until we got the IP, I hadn’t bothered with them since they take so long to cook.
Ingredients:
2-4 artichokes
1 c water
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 lemon wedges
Salt
Dipping sauce
3 T mayonnaise or Greek yogurt (Hubster used the yogurt)
1 T lemon juice
1 T Dijon mustard
t sugar
t garlic powder
Pinch of salt
Instru...
Deadly Assumptions
Deadly Assumptions
Will a string of mysterious trespassing incidents give Rookie Officer Ed Solomon his chance at being a big-time detective?
Gordon Hepler and Ed Solomon are reminiscing at Finnegan’s bar one snowy night, about a case that turned Gordon’s career path around and had Solomon rethinking his desires to be a big-city detective. Back then, Gordon had no intentions of being a cop, and Ed was a greener-than-green rookie police officer being trained by Arch Hepler, Gordon’s father.
In...
August 26, 2018
Don’t Discount Your Writing Process
Don’t Discount Your Writing Process
Starting a new book, for me, is always a challenge. Each time I open a new book file, I tell myself I’m going to do it “right” this time. And then I stew and fret, because I can’t figure out where to start, or what the story’s really going to be about, and I procrastinate.
Some of my issues stem from hopping around from one series to another. Right now, I’m alternating between my Blackthorne and Mapleton series, so by the time I start the new manuscript, I’...
A Deleted Excerpt from Falcon’s Prey
A Deleted Excerpt from Falcon’s Prey
An exclusive for my newsletter subscribers. If you found this page from another source, I hope you’ll sign up for my newsletter.
Sometimes a scene doesn’t work. In this case, Lexi had received a spoofed phone call purporting to be from Manny Rodriguez, the lead operative handling her case at Blackthorne. Later in the book, she gets a spoofed call from Dalton, the head of the company. She might have been fooled once, but not twice, so this first call had to...
