I just spent several days analyzing editor comments and corrections on a manuscript and fixing all those things the editor found that I had overlooked in my writing, revising, and self-editing passes over many, many months. Editors deserve so much praise for their knowledge of craft and story, the mistakes writers commonly make, and grammar and punctuation. We writers study and learn, but we invariably overlook repeated words or accidentally insert extra spaces as we enter changes. There are so many ways a writer can mess up a story. I know them all. At any rate, I went through all of my editor’s notes and made the fixes, then sent the manuscript back with my fingers crossed. Hopefully, I’ll get a passing grade this time. At least until the copy editor has her chance to check those dates, commas, ellipses, and all the other things copy editors look for.  You may have guess, all this happened because I now have a contract for my second novel of frontier fiction. In Defense of Delia ...

I read and post short reviews about a lot of books, so it’s not surprising I receive quite a few requests to review works by self-published authors. In the past, I’ve tried to accommodate those requests because I know how hard it is to get attention when there’s so much competition. Sadly, that practice has put me in a tight spot from time to time when the already published book is so full of errors that it’s hard to focus on the story. Even after all the great advice provided by editors and by experienced writers who indie-publish, there are still people who think their works are perfect as-is, no editing or proofreading or professional advice needed. Their books don’t sell, and the quality drags on the sales of well-researched, well-edited, well-formatted indie published books. Here are the five biggest reasons why readers avoid self-published books: 1. Writers who do not hire a content editor to meticulously read a manuscript for errors in timeline, character consistency, plot, and ...

Dani Last month, we started our new Ask Us Anything About #Writing feature with Amy Shamroe , a novelist-in-the-making.  Our Blogging Team continues to answer her questions with this important one!  Amy Is it better to just get scenes/plot points down and come back and fill in details or to spend time on everything you write in the moment? (i.e., get it all down NaNoWriMo style and go back and bulk it out or maybe spend two days on two pages getting it all down)... Shonell The better way is the way that gets your story finished. I like developing outlines that are a bit in-depth with notes about what happens in particular scenes, things characters say and do, etc. Doing this gives me visuals to jump into when I begin writing the story in earnest. Elle For a beginning writer, I would highly suggest learning to plot to start with - simply because this will save you time in the long run. Experienced writers who write to a "formula" (eg., genre conventio...

Once upon a time my life’s goal was to read every book in the library. I was devastated when I realized that was impossible. I’m still trying to read as many as as I can, though. I rely on lists of books to keep my own “To Be Read” list current and full of titles from many genres. I subscribe to the Shelf Awareness news via Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, CO. You can sign up for their newsletter at the bottom of the web page. The lists of new releases from Mystery Writers of America each month is excellent. The list is published on the website. International Thriller Writers does the same in their newsletter. You can sign up even if you’re not a member. For more book lists in all genres, a simple Google search turned up these sites for May . My personal favorite is the monthly blog post from Lesa’s Book Critiques where she describes the month’s treasures in her closet. With cover art and short synopses, this librarian/book reviewer gives a sneak peek at upcoming releases, mos...

Even if I admit to being deeply moved by Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb , delivered with such stirring passion at President Biden’s inauguration, poems are still not my thing. And even if I have a favorite poem that I’ll read again and again, specifically The Calf-Path by Sam Foss, poetry does not regularly call me to read or write in any of its forms. Counting syllables to create a meaningful haiku does not feel like fun. Even if I wanted to write more ambitious poems, I’d have to go back and learn the basics all over again. Any little thing I might have learned from my college class has long ago been deleted from memory. For me, National Poetry Month is less exciting than some of the other national month options. Did you know that April is also National Fresh Celery Month? I thought not. I love celery, especially with cream cheese. Or peanut butter. April is also National Humor Month. Humor has carried me through the last year via television comedy and the antics of my cat and do...

I read a few memoirs each year, looking primarily for works by writers and other real people. In other words, I avoid the tales put forth by politicians and entertainment celebrities. What is memoir? Memoir is a tiny word for a huge variety of life stories, sometimes comprehensive tales from childhood to old age, other times a few meaningful weeks plucked out of a life that may have changed that life in unexpected ways. We, as readers, often develop the habit of reading only one or two genres, mostly fiction. But real people all over the world have shared something intimate and profound about their lives and times. We can learn something different from memoir than we can from the best of the best in history books because we get a slice of that history from one point of view. History is made up of those unique perspectives. I am grateful to those writers who are brave enough to give us a piece of themselves. I don’t know anything about writing memoir, but I think it’s safe to say that t...

When I first started writing, I tried a mystery series starring Sylvia Thorn and Willie Grisseljon, a sister and brother who were older. In their 60s, as a matter of fact. Their elderly parents are still alive and active as well. Writing The Prairie Grass Murders and The Desert Hedge Murders was fun, but I wanted to try a thriller, and historical fiction, and short stories, so off I went to dabble in a variety of genres. I also read in almost every genre, including non-fiction, but when I’m looking for mysteries, I start with my go-to favorites among the authors of the Rocky Mountain states, most of them in Colorado. With all the excellent writers here, one hardly needs to search anywhere else in the country. I couldn’t begin to mention them all in one blog post, so I’m going to talk about just a few of the ones I’ve read in 2020. My want-to-read list for 2021 is is even longer. Shannon Baker Shannon lives in Arizona these days, but she spent lots of time in the state of Colorado and ...

I’ve been sucked into the NaNoWriMo whirlpool again. My husband says, “Oh, no! That means no big meals and no housecleaning for a whole month.” “Except Thanksgiving,” I respond. I plan way ahead for that meal because it’s my favorite of the whole year. I still make homemade bread stuffing, and I buy half turkey breasts to roast. Often we repeat the whole meal for Christmas, especially if we don't have company coming. And this year, there won’t be any company. But back to the dear man’s comment about big meals and housecleaning. Unless you do a little housecleaning , I think to myself. I don’t say it aloud. After all, he mows the lawn and shovels the snow and several other things it would pain me to do. Literally. I’m grateful. About NaNoWriMo. I’ve jumped in the pool several times over the years, but I think I only made the full 50,000 word total with a real novel one time. I’d have to check, but I might have done 50,000 words of combo short stories and rewriting in another year. B...

When this coronavirus pandemic lurched on to the conference and convention scene, live events all over the world were cancelled. We writers, just like the rest of humanity, had to stop in our tracks, go home, and scrap the schedule. Our calendars began to look pretty empty. But then planners and managers got creative, online opportunities grew like wildfires (sorry, that reference is very painful for some folks these days), and we social butterflies jumped on board. We found new ways to indulge our occasional attacks of extrovertness, see the smiling faces of our friends and acquaintances, and connect. In Colorado, three major writerly conferences were cancelled: Northern Colorado Writers and Pikes Peak Writers in the spring and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold in the fall. Not to be sabotaged by a nasty virus, the brilliant minds at these organizations, with additional support from others such as Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime Colo...

I remember toward the end of July I decided to create a Blood-Red Pencil blog post early for August as well as finally posting to my own blog which has sat neglected since February 3rd. And then suddenly it was August 15th. No Blood-Red Pencil post. No post to my personal blog. What happened? I know I did stuff over the last month. I see the notations on my calendar. A cortisone shot in my arthritic shoulder (which did not help). My annual checkup which I passed with flying colors (for my age). A Saturday morning Crowdcast online event called Mystery in the Midlands . A grooming appointment for Sassy. Curbside pickups for groceries. A couple more online writing programs. A solid effort to apply the edits to my current almost-finished frontier fiction manuscript called In Defense of Delia . Critiques for two writers’ group meetings. And yet, without that calendar to look at, I might have had a hard time remembering what I did in the last four weeks to fill up all that ti...

That's what the governor is calling it here in Colorado: Safer at Home. I'm fine with that. Shopping during senior hours on occasion, but mostly sticking to curbside pickup or online shopping with delivery suits me fine.  I never got a big thrill from grocery shopping anyway. Or crowds. I would have made a pretty good hermit. Anyway, this post is about what I do when I'm not working on writing or writing-related tasks. Hmmm. Because my big goal for 2020 is to FINISH! those neglected writing projects—or delete/shred them if unworthy of further attention—it’s hard for me to come up with a lot of activities that are not in some way writing related. That's where all my excitement is these days. But there are a few non-writing things I sneak into my “safer at home” lifestyle. Back in March and April, I spent extra time in the kitchen, baking and trying new meat and casserole recipes. That got old in a hurry, especially when I stepped on the scales and saw the uni...

Wishing Caswell Dead is available from Amazon.com Visit Pat Stoltey's website . Image credit: Sangamon River. Douglas Grohne

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of."                      Poor Richard’s Almanac June 1746 Pixabay So here we are, many of us reluctant to get out in the world even if government and/or health officials are relaxing restrictions on retail stores and personal care services (with proper masks and social distancing, of course). I’m one of the reluctant ones, being of a certain age and all. Others, perhaps younger and anxious to get back to work, or living alone and feeling the stress of isolation, or even just eager to get a haircut and color, crave the freedom to get out of their homes and get on with life. Can we have both safety and freedom? I do hope so, but when I see large numbers of people out and about, a shoulder-touch apart and no masks, I get scared. I’m afraid that belligerence will come back and bite people in the form of COVID-19. I don’t want to be one of them...