Category: The Writer’s Corner

Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?

book.reviewWhat you don’t do is contact the Reviewer to debate with them why.  No matter how much the review stings, no matter how much you disagree with it, NEVER, NEVER contact the Reviewer.  Put your big-person panties on and DEAL with IT! When you do respond to a review; complaining about the unfairness of the review, how the Reviewer got it wrong, and how you are the best writer since sliced bread, YOU simply come across as an AMATEUR!

What you should do is learn from the critique.  Take the criticism to heart and see how the Reviewer’s points can make YOU a better writer.  Sure, we’d all like only rave reviews all of the time, a couple of best sellers and loads of money.  But that just ain’t how it works, folks.  As writers we must be open to suggestions, criticism, and growth no matter how painful.

I recently interviewed a very interesting writer and following the interview I reviewed her book.  An honest opinion (by me) about how the book could be better.  Here is her response in an email: Continue reading “Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?”

Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review

PackSaddles.scanwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction                                       2 out of 5 quills
Pack Saddles & Gunpowder  ** A Review

This book has potential.  But it’s a trilogy…and unfortunately not in a good way. It is:  1) A mountain horse packing guide book.  2) A treatise about the ongoing struggle between the environmentalists and horsemen with regard to how the high country wilderness should be used and protected.  And finally: 3) an underdeveloped mystery. The story is not moved forward by the first two. It would have been much more interesting to weave the trails and lakes more into the story, almost as an after thought. There was a missed opportunity to write a chapter where the environmentalists and horsemen debate the issue with some scintillating dialogue.

More research should have been done with regard to crime scene investigation.  When the helicopter arrives to pick up the surviving victim and perps, a detective would have been on board. They would have insisted on interviewing everyone right away, even the young girl, traumatized or not. They would hardly have allowed Cassie to ‘ride off into the sunset’ just because she was an attorney in the city.  She was after all the one who shot one of the perps to death. The investigator would also have wanted to see the site of the shooting (a potential crime scene; lawyers kill too) and preserve all evidence until justifiable homicide or homicide was determined.  This would also have provided an interesting investigative/forensics chapter.

It barely affected me that the nice all-American family had been hunted and attacked.  A chapter with the family back at home with Mom, perhaps, getting ready for the hiking trip,would have helped invest the reader and, once again, was sadly missing. Continue reading “Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review”

Edit Thyself, Writers!

char.analysisI just finished reviewing a poorly written book and it demonstrated the fact that writing a book is not all glory and self satisfaction at seeing your name on a book, as its author.

Far from it!  It’s grueling, damn hard work. Any one of you out there can write, the trick is writing well. It’s being willing to rewrite and rewrite some more. And then edit: does this word, sentence, chapter move my story forward?  Would my character say this? Sound like this? Behave like this?

Then there’s the delete anxnst.mousekey. Horrors!  Delete some of my brilliant writing?  Yes.  You better be willing to give up some of those self-proclaimed brilliant words and be happy about it.  Because when it’s said and done your book will be better for it.

How do you get from writing that first sentence to a finished book?  In my opinion, there is no right and wrong way to prepare.  I write my first draft from the seat of my pants; with just an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for days. No plot line, no story line, and in the case of my true crime series, I often don’t know who my killer is until later.  I will let my characters take me on their journey and the killer will always revel themselves to me.
I marinate, speculate and hibernate. Continue reading “Edit Thyself, Writers!”

Interview with Susie Drougas, Author (part 2)

Drougas.9.DSC03787Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

SD. I began my Dusty Rose series and published my first novel in 2014, Pack Saddles & Gunpowder. Over the years I have published several articles for the Back Country Horsemen state magazine, The Trailhead News. I worked on newsletters for our local chapter and I was told by a number of people that the only reason they joined our chapter was to get the newsletter and read my stories. That really made me start thinking about my book, and just maybe I could do it.

Q. How long after that were you published?

SD. I’m a pretty methodical person. When I make up my mind to do something, I put out maximum effort to see it through. I began writing in 2013 and finished and published my first novel in 2014.  As I mentioned, I am a freelance court reporter. I take depositions and have often found myself in a room with several accomplished, high-powered Seattle attorneys with several million dollars at stake—shouting and arguing over each other. I have to keep them in line to maintain the record. It is not for the faint of heart. But I will say, going the first time to my writer’s group and reading my work to other people was the scariest thing I have ever done. Beats anything else in the terror factor. Continue reading “Interview with Susie Drougas, Author (part 2)”

Interview with High Country Horsewoman/author, Susie Drougas

Drouglas.4.Me at White PassTS. This new author does her research ‘in the saddle’.  An experienced high country rider this horsewoman knows the trails her protagonists ride.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide  photos of your shed, room, closet, barn….)  Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

SD. We have a great room that I love to sit in. It’s decorated like a hunting lodge with deer mounts, a wood stove and huge windows. We live in a canyon with rugged hills surrounding it. Sitting in my chair in the early morning, the sun hits the tops of the peaks and lights them up in beautiful golds. The high desert sky is blue around it. That’s usually where I write.

My favorite place to write, however, is in our living quarters horse trailer aftertrailer.Susie a day’s ride in the high country. We take care of the horses, eat and sit by the campfire. Then I go into the trailer and write. Since my books take place on the trails, all the sights, sounds and smells are fresh in my mind. It flows out of my fingers. Continue reading “Interview with High Country Horsewoman/author, Susie Drougas”

Rustler’s Moon by Jodi Thomas ~~A Review

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing          Rating: 5 out 5 quills        A Review  Rustler’s Moon by Jodi ThomasEElf.2Rustler.Moon..Scan

It was great to return to Crossroads, Texas once again.  Thomas introduced a couple of quirky new characters to spice things up and blend with returning characters that we’ve all come to enjoy and even…yes I’ll say it…love.

The book has a great beginning when Angela receives a cryptic message: Run. Disappear. Vanish.  And she does. Grabbing just a few things, she flees Florida and ends up in Crossroads.  But is it far enough to hide in plain sight? I found myself wanting more story from Vern and Carter.  They enchanted me with their eccentric outlook and actions.  The love story within the tale is tender and sweet. This reviewer always appreciates an author’s restraint leaving much to the reader’s imagination, instead of laying it all out….as it were.

Rustler’s Moon was an excellent sequel to Ransom Canyon and I can’t wait to read book three, Winter’s Camp.

Did you miss my Interview with Jodi Thomas?  Click here

Excerpt from Rustler’s Moon

Crossroads, Texas
October
Angela

Dried weeds scratched against Angela Harold’s bare legs as she walked the neglected grounds behind the Ransom Canyon Museum near Crossroads, Texas. Rumbling gray clouds spotted the sky above. Wind raged as though trying to push her back to the East Coast. She decided any rain might blow all the way to Oklahoma before it could land on Texas soil. But the weather didn’t matter. She had made it here. She’d done exactly what her father told her. She’d vanished.

Angela had meant to stop long enough to clean up before she took her first look at the museum, but she could not wait. So, in sandals, shorts and a tank top, she explored the land behind the boarded-up building on the edge of Ransom Canyon.When she’d talked to the board president, Staten Kirkland, five days ago, he’d sounded excited. They’d had to close the museum when the last curator left and in six months she’d been the only one to call about the job opening. Before the phone call ended Kirkland offered her a three-month trial if she could answer one question.Angela thought it would be about her experience or her education, but it was pure Texas folk history. Continue reading “Rustler’s Moon by Jodi Thomas ~~A Review”

A Chat With Tavia Gilbert, Professional Voice (conclusion)

tavia.headshot.-400x266continued…… Can you tell us about your process when you begin to narrate a book?.
A. …….voicing the foreign language phrases the writer included in the book, listened to several bird calls to include in the book (a young boy is an expert at bird calls, so I have to approximate a cardinal, a blue jay, and more), learned the Welsh national anthem — in Welsh, reacquainted myself with several old hymns…I’m recording very slowly and carefully, while preserving a fresh sense of discovery and using the technology to make my many, many stops and starts sound seamless. That’s more than most books require, but it does offer a glimpse into the challenges of an audio book narration. I want my work to be excellent every time. Each project is different, but it’s great to really commit and make sure I’m doing everything I possibly can to make the most complete audio world I can. Once the recording of each chapter is complete, I upload it to my publisher. They edit and proof the recording, ensuring that my narration is word perfect to the script. They send a list of corrections, which I record and send, and then the book is ready to go out into the world!

Q. Do you have rituals before you begin?

A. I do. Donna Eden’s five-minute energy technique and a few other of her energy practices, which ground and settle me and get me in a good space to focus. I put some lavender on my fifth chakra (throat chakra). I make a quick shot of ginger, turmeric, coconut water, salt, lemon, and honey, and then I settle in with water with lemon and a kombucha. Continue reading “A Chat With Tavia Gilbert, Professional Voice (conclusion)”

Interview With Tavia Gilbert, Voice for Audio Books

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TS.  I have used a narrator for many of my own books and know what an integral part they play in the success of an audio book.  Tavia is one of the best out there!

Q. Tell us about your acting/voice career.

A. I work as a full-time audio book narrator, recording primarily in my home studio in Brooklyn, New York. I’ve been passionate about sound, voice, and story all my life, and it’s been exciting to see where my career takes me. I graduated from Cornish College in Seattle with a BFA in Acting, with a concentration in Original Works. Soon after graduation I moved to Portland, Maine to study documentary audio storytelling at the Salt Institute. I worked in Portland as a commercial and theater actor, before focusing on audio book narration. I began working full-time as an audio book narrator in 2007, and in these eight years I’ve recorded more than 400 books for virtually every publisher, in virtually every genre. When I completed my MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from Vermont College a few years ago I moved from Maine to Brooklyn, to further develop my work as a performer, producer, and publisher.

Q. What led you to start a narration career?

A. I was born with deformed feet and have had more than a dozen corrective foot surgeries since I was seven months old. I remember an intense yearning to be an actress as early as about four years old, and I did theater in my hometown when I was growing up with dreams of working as a performing artist and living in a New York City apartment with a fire escape (and now I have my very own fire escape!). But I struggled somewhat in college, with another surgery that required time away from school, and later with the physical demands of the actor conditioning program at Cornish. I’m so grateful that Cornish pushed me as hard as it did physically, because I came to understand that I was stronger and more capable than I thought, though I was dealing with — and still do — some quite serious physical challenges. Once I decided to stay permanently in Maine (I lived there for 12 years), I realized that there would not be enough professional commercial or theater work to sustain a career from Maine. Just at that time the voice-over and narration industries were beginning to transition to home studios, so I set my sights on narration. I was an avid listener, Continue reading “Interview With Tavia Gilbert, Voice for Audio Books”

Dreams Do Come True!

It took me two years of gentle prodding to finally get my foot (in this case, scripts) in the door of a Manhattan (NYC) book store. This drama book store has been around forever and is the only exclusive script store in the City.  To use the buyer’s expression, “we just have so much real estate” so I am doubly grateful that my books are included in their limited shelf space.

Cyber.Hate.BookCoverImageJust today I filled another order for my scripts and Journals.  Theatre people and writers are BUYING my books and using them.  I couldn’t be more thrilled.  And I’m always surprised by what is selling.

And just recently a  publishing house contracted with me to publish Book 1, The Art of Murder, in my true crime series. Not for a second will I discontinue my self-publishing of my other books.  It is a highly efficient and successful way to get your books out to the reading public with very little cost to you, the writer.

Ten.Minutes.Curtain.Vol.ICover3,200_

 

 

Possession.BookCoverImageWRITERS!  Never give up!  Sometimes it will take you years of perseverance to achieve your goals. The three top tips that I can give you is:

  1. Never stop writing!  You will only become more skilled in your craft.
    2. Keep knocking on doors, whether it is a brick & mortar book store, a publisher, or a literary agent.
    3. Self publish.  It’s free on some sites to build your book.  Your only cost will be the royalty when a book is sold.

    CW.Cover.Scan
    Best Seller!

 

 

 

 

 

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DON’T MISS BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!       Julia London, Matt Jorgenson, MJ Moores,  and actor/narrator Tavia Gilbert.  March’s featured author is Susie Drougas and long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) in April.

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What’s in your St. Valentine’s Day Box?

writers, interviews, valentine day, authors,                  My St. Valentine’s Day box is full of authors willing to take time out and be interviewed!    This month, we digress a little with a charming interview with a book narrator.   Audio-books are all the rage now, what with our busy lives,  and professional actor/voice over artist, Tavia Gilbert will let us into her world.  March’s guest author will be Susie Drougas whose modern day mysteries takes us into the wilds of Washington, atop a horse.

Three years ago I began interviewing best selling authors and to my ever-lasting gratitude, they accepted!   Dean Koontz, Sue Grafton, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Mark Childress have all graced the pages of my blog!

It doesn’t really surprise me that the authors are relating similar experiences that I have had in my writing life. Characters taking the story in a whole different and unexpected direction.

Dean Koontz: “…if I give characters free will, if I don’t plot out the story and instead present them with a problem and watch them deal with it, they begin to take on a life of their own, frequently surprising me with the choices they make. This is mysterious and exciting.” Continue reading “What’s in your St. Valentine’s Day Box?”