Yesterday was a pretty quiet and relaxing Sunday. The flock of pubescent girls that had been squawking Friday and Saturday, migrated back to roost elsewhere and we were allowed to listen to the lake lapping at the shore once more. Around 1:30 PM, we got a visit from my former neighbors. I used to workContinue reading “Copter 104”
Author Archives: Norm Benson
Sisters in Crime Publishers’ Summit
Some members of the Sisters in Crime visited Harper Collins, agent Simon Lipskar of Writers House, Penguin, and Soho Press on their Publisher’s Summit (See their first installment/second installment). They report (according to the folks they met) the hot genre is the thriller, “positioning” the story is key, writers need to write lots (more thanContinue reading “Sisters in Crime Publishers’ Summit”
Sisters in Crime Publishers' Summit
Some members of the Sisters in Crime visited Harper Collins, agent Simon Lipskar of Writers House, Penguin, and Soho Press on their Publisher’s Summit (See their first installment/second installment). They report (according to the folks they met) the hot genre is the thriller, “positioning” the story is key, writers need to write lots (more thanContinue reading “Sisters in Crime Publishers' Summit”
Maybe “Heartwood of Darkness” isn’t the best title
On a recent podcast of A Way with Words, I heard about a contest that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to win: The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. This year’s winner is If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. I like one of the runners-up: IContinue reading “Maybe “Heartwood of Darkness” isn’t the best title”
Maybe "Heartwood of Darkness" isn’t the best title
On a recent podcast of A Way with Words, I heard about a contest that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to win: The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. This year’s winner is If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. I like one of the runners-up: IContinue reading “Maybe "Heartwood of Darkness" isn’t the best title”
Maybe "Heartwood of Darkness" isn't the best title
On a recent podcast of A Way with Words, I heard about a contest that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to win: The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. This year’s winner is If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. I like one of the runners-up: IContinue reading “Maybe "Heartwood of Darkness" isn't the best title”
(Jumping the) Query Shark
Jumping the shark nowadays meaning doing something so outside of what a character/TV series what do that the storyline moves in a bizarre direction. However writing to the Query Shark is a good thing. She’s an agent who receives query letters and critiques the letter. Here’s a perfect one in her opinion.
Okay, But How Do the Lesser Ones Fare?
It seems “[at] least one of Britain’s birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.” I am relieved. Read the BBC story, “Great tits cope well with warming.”
The First Sixteen Lines
Sixteen. That’s the number of lines of text appearing on the first page of a book. After the book jacket blurbs, it’s that first page that must compel the reader onward or the book is put back on the shelf. There is a site that critiques those first lines; it’s called Flogging the Quill andContinue reading “The First Sixteen Lines”
What's for Lunch
My wife and a neighbor walked the dogs this morning. Neighbors stopped them on three separate occasions to warn them of a mountain lion sighting. It seems that a cougar killed a deer yesterday in a neighbor’s yard and then sat with his lunch all day in the shade of a oak. Who knew thatContinue reading “What's for Lunch”
Nullius in Verba 