Category: Book Discussions
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The Roots of My Writing Life
My fourth grader has a science project due May 4th and a Mission Project due May 18th. My high school sophomore’s paper on comparing and contrasting the Holocaust to The Rwandan genocide is due after Easter Break. And then my college senior is graduating May 22 ,2009. The Baccalaureate service takes place the night before,…
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Blogging Can Improve Your Writing–Even Your Fiction
I recently ran across an article at problogger.net—Six Very Official Ways to Improve Your Writing. While the article aims at helping the blogger improve her/his craft, the suggestions hearken to what we know delivers exciting and engaging language. More importantly, Darren Rowse, encourages us to shift our attitude and approach towards blogging in a way…
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The Worth of an Editor
I recently had to fire an editor with whom I had contracted to edit my upcoming novel, The House. All started out fine, signing the editor’s contract and paying their requested fee. Yet three weeks into the process I was receiving long written assemblages of what amounted to–upon clarification from the editor–the editor’s thoughts as…
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The Quality of Our Work…
Do you feel that some best selling author’s books start off good but at some point are just not exciting as they use to be? Why, Why not? This question was posted on the yahoo group: africanamericansonthemovebookclub I was touched that the question was raised and addressed–and by black authors. I reveled in the response…
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My Characters’ Obsessions
I’m noticing is that as I work on my 9th novel–I’ve written 8–all unpublished–my published work is a collection of short stories, “Keeper of Secrets…Translations of an Incident“—that I’m identifying and honing in on my major character’s obsession. This is a new discovery for me. I realize in revising and editing my recent, and 8th…