It’s Real!

Last week Friday I received the author’s copies of my debut novel, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. That alone was enough to make this a fantastic month. That encouraged me to finally build a Facebook group for the book (which I’ve been meaning to do for several months). I honestly have been dragging my feet on this because I haven’t been using Facebook much lately. When I have used the tool, I haven’t seen much in the way of reaction or response. I was really wondering if there was much point. I was absolutely blown away by how many people have commented and “Liked” the group page! I know I’ve talked about the fact that I’ve been worried about whether my book […]

Share
Read more

Writing Advice

For those of you who have read my blog posts in the past, you will probably notice that I rarely, if ever, give writing advice. There are a few reasons for this: the way I write and what works for me may not work for you (the actual action of writing); I know what looks right on the page. I have a pretty decent grasp of grammar and language, however, I am NOT a grammatician nor am I a professor of English to speak as an authority on sentence structure; I am not an expert on the reader’s marketplace. I have a good understanding of what is selling now (easily enough found) and I have some opinions on what might sell down-the-road, but […]

Share
Read more

Leaping for Joy!

How original. I am ripping off the fact that today is February 29th, a day that only comes around every four years. Mind you, if all the end-of-the-world quacks are right, it is also the last one we will ever have so why shouldn’t I take advantage of it? But why am I so happy? Well, beyond the obvious play on words, things seem to be coming together. It has been a long slog and I now know more than ever what Pip Ballantine was talking about when she was on Get Published. Her 12-year Overnight Success, indeed. I’m not quite to 12-years yet, but then, I’m not even close to what would be considered a writing success (again, yet). […]

Share
Read more

Writing Shouldn’t Be a Solitary Activity

In my early writing days I believed that it was just me and the words. No one else would ever be involved. I was totally alone. I’ve since learned that writing doesn’t need to be so solitary. True, there are times when it should be just you and the keyboard, but there are many times when you should be around and involve other people. For example. critiquing and feedback of your work – I have heard the opinion that a writer must write a million words before they have anything worth sending out. I would argue that a million words without any outside scrutiny doesn’t improve one’s writing much at all. The feedback around what works and what needs work […]

Share
Read more