Every so often, I share something I’ve written in one of my journals to let readers in on how the mind of at least one writer works. Here’s an entry from 2003, two years into the writing of my first novel , Between Will and Surrender, and when I was about to start my second, Between Darkness and Dawn. Journal Entry, June 19, 2003 […]
Book Talk
Copyright in the Work You Create
During a writers’ conference workshop sponsored by Friends of Elk Grove Library, Renee Morgan-Hampton, a litigation paralegal and author of Misrepresented, talked about getting a copyright in your work. Did you know that the moment you start writing your novel you have a copyright in the work you create? © All Rights Reserved. The Copyright […]
Inventing from Place / Alto Angel
The following scene was written in response to an “Inventing from Place” assignment given in my Tools of the Writer’s Craft class through UCDavis Extension. It was later included in Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, book three of my “Enter the Between” visionary fiction series. We were asked to think of a place that we found either particularly […]
Show Me the Details – Descriptive Details
After ten years of writing fiction, dealing with such story elements as plot, dialogue, characterization, and style, I’ve finally reached the point where I understand the value of descriptive detail in making my writing come alive, raising it from a lump of clay to a fine work of art. I punch, twist, slice, and carve my first drafts, […]
Final, Final Read-Through. Again
I’ve just finished the final, final read through of my novel, Between Now and Forever. Again. But at least this read through only took seven hours, a record, since the last one took ten, spread out over two visits to Starbucks instead of one. Final Read Through And now I’m done. Really. When I tell my critique partners this, […]
Your Book is Coming Out, Are You Ready to Promote?
I watched a YouTube video a while back titled “Your Book’s Coming Out. Are You Ready to Rock?”, which is no longer available, but it really hit home. It featured an author talking to his agent on the phone about the release of his new book. The agent asked the author how he planned to publicize his book. […]