In case you didn’t see my social media teases leading up to Saturday afternoon, I was on an online radio/podcast show Saturday afternoon called “Tag Team 2*4*5,” in conjunction with the Rave Reviews Book Club. The numbers refer to two hosts, four authors, and five minutes each, just to solve that baffling mystery for you. [Read more…] about Radio Didn’t Kill the Book Star
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The Best Books I Read in 2016
This is the first full year I’ve spent constantly reading a book in close to 20 years, and it was great. Truly awesome. If nothing else came from this whole “I’m gonna be a writer!” thing other than I started reading books again, it’d be worth it. I’ve loved getting to know these authors, and diving into all these new stories I never would have explored otherwise. [Read more…] about The Best Books I Read in 2016
The Interview with Ellen
I want to quickly introduce you to Ellen Smith, author of a terrific and well-received book from earlier this year called Reluctant Cassandra — she describes it as Southern Fiction, which could interest a number of you — and the curator of a cool little blog at ellensmithwrites.com, where she does much of what I do here … talk about what motivates us to write, our challenges, share a little something from behind the scenes with those of you watching this whole crazy process from the outside. [Read more…] about The Interview with Ellen
Is Using Dialogue a Writing Crutch?
In a recent critique I received of “Killing the Immortals,” a couple of people mentioned that they thought there was too much dialogue, particularly in the early going. It’s an interesting criticism that I hadn’t heard before. The first 2-1/2 chapters are pretty dialogue heavy, while the second half of the third chapter is completely devoid of dialogue at all. [Read more…] about Is Using Dialogue a Writing Crutch?
Speaking at A Novel Idea in Canton
For those of you who missed me at the Decatur Book Festival, you’ve got another chance to catch my book-readin’ self out in the wild very soon. Next week, I’ll be reading an excerpt from “Killing the Immortals” at the Snug Gastro Pub in Canton for the “A Novel Idea” event on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
The theme for the event is “scary stories,” and I’ll be joined by other local authors Lee Gimenez, Alex Hughes, Lynn Hesse, Frank Reddy, and Marsha Cornelius. I won’t be able to get up there until 7:30 or so, and I’ll probably be speaking around 8. I’ll bring some bookmarks, and I’ll probably read Chapter 1 because I think it’s a great introduction to the book. [Read more…] about Speaking at A Novel Idea in Canton
What Should You Talk About at a Book Festival?
This Saturday, I’ll be speaking about my book, “Killing the Immortals,” at the Decatur Book Festival. I’m actually the first speaker after the main guy in the Emerging Writers Tent (10:10 a.m.), which is for highlighting indie and small-publisher authors. I got that first spot because of my immense fame, and the crushing amount of interest in my talk. Or because I signed up first. I’ll let you decide which.
I’d love to see any of you there. It’d be great to have more than just my mom — who’s going to roll her way up there on a broken foot — and some friends who want to lend some eyeballs for support. If you want to come, definitely do it. It’s free, and there’s tons more to see and do there. Especially if you have kids. They love them some kids at this fest.
So, what am I going to be talking about? This will be my first time speaking publicly about it. I’m used to answering questions from people by now. And, I don’t know if you’d heard, but I also have a blog where I’ve written about it a lot. But talking extemporaneously about it to a group is going to be a new experience. I don’t really understand stage fright, so that’s not an issue. How do I keep them engaged, though? How do I not bore everyone away? [Read more…] about What Should You Talk About at a Book Festival?