by mike | Feb 4, 2013 | Books, Editing, Psychological Thrillers, Publishing, Research, Writers' Conferences, Writing |
August McLaughlin is “one of my writers”. More important, she is also a great friend. We met at a writers’ conference some years back—perhaps fortuitously, or even inevitably, as she had come to the conference on a quest to find a writing coach and mentor. Seems she...
by mike | Oct 9, 2012 | Books, California, Horror, Native Americans, Publishing, Research, Writers' Retreat, Writing |
Okay, I don’t mean to belittle a malady that is prevalent among so many writers. It’s just that I’ve never had writer’s block. I mean, never. Not ever. I will admit that there were periods when life got in the way big time, and accordingly I just stopped writing. But...
by mike | Aug 26, 2012 | Baseball, Books, Magical realism, Research, Writing |
“Three years ago at dusk on a spring evening, when the sky was a robin’s-egg blue and the wind as soft as a day-old chick, I was sitting on the veranda of my farm home in eastern Iowa when a voice very clearly said to me, ‘If you build it, he will come.’” These words...
by mike | Aug 13, 2012 | Adventure fantasy, Books, Horror, Research, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sorcery, Writing |
For you writers, or even wanna-be writers out there, this bit of information may be helpful. I first presented it as a newsletter for my writing community a while back. To some writers, “outline” is a dirty word (much like “synopsis”). To others, it is an...
by mike | Aug 2, 2012 | Books, California, Native Americans, Research, Science Fiction, Writing |
Those of us who write novels have a great platform for saying pretty much anything we want. The characters we create often reflect our likes, our dislikes, our politics, our worldviews, and many other things. And there is nothing wrong with venting our spleens through...
by mike | May 14, 2012 | Books, California, Horror, Native Americans, Research, Writing |
Of my four horror novels, three are steeped in Native American culture and mythology. More specifically, the Native Americans that I chose to write about are among California’s indigenous people. Why? First, there has been a book or two (or a gazillion) written about...