In previous posts I’ve shared here about how reading newspaper articles has triggered a story idea. This happens a lot for my mystery and suspense novels, especially, One Small Victory and Boxes for Beds , and even some of the story lines for the Seasons Mystery Series. Many writers, if not most, get story ideas from just such experiences, especially those who write mysteries. If we run across an article about an unsolved crime, our writerly minds may latch on to that story and start trying to figure out a way to ferret out a solution. Topics for a story also come to us out of current events, as Dani Greer pointed out in her post last week I can Use This.. .about her Kindle Vella series. However, for other novels, we may draw directly from our experiences or those of people we know. For example, the story idea for my women's novel Play it Again, Sam came from a dreadful experience that a good friend lived through. She called me up one day to tell me that her husband of over twe...

 “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou That quote from the talented poet, performer, and activist who passed from this life in 2014 really resonates with me, as I’ve long believed that we have to keep the creative juices flowing. It's definitely not good for any kind of productivity with our work if we stagnate. What we do to prime the pump, so to speak, can take many forms. If you’re a writer, write That seems like a non-starter for writers. That's what we do, right? But too often we get distracted by social media, things life throws at us, or an impulse to play a game instead of getting into the groove. What we need to be doing is writing first.  As the wonderful writer Anne Lamott says, “How to write: Butt in chair. Start each day anywhere. Let yourself do it badly. … Get butt back in chair.” Back when I was a lot more prolific as a writer, before Ramsay Hunt Syndrome decided to cozy up to me and bring along the gift of optic ner...

I have to admit I am not a hoarder of book advertising merchandise. Every month charities inundate our mailbox with with canvas totes, mailing labels, note pads, pens, calculators, blankets, pins, calendars, greeting cards, even nickles and dimes. However some readers love them. And they must be somewhat successful or the charities wouldn't keep sending them. 1. Should you include merchandise items as part of your marketing strategy?   It depends.   Do you make personal appearances (pre-quarantine and hopefully again post-quarantine)? Do you go to conventions, writer meetings, book clubs? Do local independent bookstores or libraries allow you to display items along with your book? Do you have a mailing list? Do you hold contests and raffles and giveaways? Can you afford it? There may or may not be a return on investment. You may want a few instead of hundreds. The allure of  Free Stuff Christmas is only three months away, so they also make terrific present...

A few years ago, my husband retired from pathology and we moved to the land of eternal summer: Florida. We had scoped out many retirement communities and they were simply, to my much younger self, sad little places. I was not ready to retire to a rocking chair on the porch. Neither was he. We chose an over 55 community with 120,000 people and growing. The goal is 250,000 at the moment, but we may overtake Orlando at some point. It is often referred to as Disneyland for Grownups. You can do everything here: over 2,000 clubs from Scrabble to scuba, and every sport imaginable in addition to golf. There hundreds of Rec Centers with pools and workout equipment.  Hubs leads bicyclists on 45 mile a day ride and he is in the "slow club." There are eighty-year-olds riding at 20-28 miles per hour. There are rowing clubs, marathoners, triathletes, weightlifters, kayakers, and swimmers. There are many senior Olympians. There is dancing at the three town squares every evening, or ...

In keeping with this month's theme of "new tricks" for writers, I decided I'd write a bit about how the Internet has changed things for those of us who ply our trade with words. Not that it is all that new for young writers who've grown up with the internet, but there are a few dinosaurs around, as Linda Lane mentioned in her post on August 12 . And there are writers in between the dinosaur stage and those who perhaps learned how to get on the Web before they learned to walk. More and more I've come to appreciate the fact that there are so many online resources for writers - from help with research, to help with craft, to help with marketing. When looking for some inspiration, as well as good advice, there are three websites and blogs that I visit often: Kristen Lamb's blog , Writer Unboxed , and The Writer. Each offers new information to help writers and most of the folks there are very generous about allowing other bloggers, like me today, to reuse...

We go to movies or stage plays to be entertained. Sets and stages are created as backdrops for the story, and actors are chosen to portray the characters, delivering lines the scriptwriter has written and engaging in actions called for in the script and/or by the director. Story-appropriate sound effects complete the desired ambiance to complete the story. Viewers then can fully engage the senses of sight and sound, as well as emotions, to bring the story to life exactly as the writer(s) and director intended. Of course, taking a script to screen or set is more complicated than the overly simple description above, and one or several variables may come into play along the way that complicate the process even further. Still, the end result will hopefully accomplish its purpose, whether to entertain, educate, terrify, or otherwise affect the viewer. While stories often entertain, there much of the similarity between story writers and screenwriters and playwrights ends. Because nove...