A writer's journey...

For the first time ever, Brandon Fisher of Eleven, and the new series after his name, has been interviewed. Maybe you haven't met him yet, or you want to know more about him? What motivated Brandon to become FBI? Does he see the team staying together? How does Brandon relieve stress? And he talks a little bit about me too...not sure if I'm going to let that pass or not!  Guess we'll find out. Join him over on Chloe Gets a Clue website here .

As you can see my blog hasn’t received much ‘love’ lately, but that’s okay.  I’ve been writing and having a great time doing so! :D But, thanks to  Marianne Spitzer  and  Dixie Goode , I’m back to my blog for  The Next Big Thing .  They tagged me to answer 10 questions about myself and pass the fun along to another 5 authors.  Let’s get started shall we. The Questions:  1. What is the working title of your book? Well, the book I would like to discuss today actually has a finalized title--Assassination of a Dignitary.  This will see release early 2013. Here’s the working overview (subject to change): Raymond Hunter's murderous past has returned and demands one final favor.  Now, eighteen years later, settled as an accountant and family man, he assumed life would be calm.  He thought wrong.  The Italian mafia wants him back. The directions were simple...

It's that time of year already!  Are you amped?   Come on, I know you are!  NaNoWriMo is upon us, and that means 50,000 words in a month, 30 days, 720 hours, 43,200 minutes, 2,592,000 seconds.  No pressure, right?  :D Well, only if you want to succeed!  But NaNo shouldn't be about stressing out, or even a deadline.  It should be about letting your mind and creativity run amuck!   I wasn't in the trenches last year, but I'll be there this year--and it's going to be great! Here's some things that I found helped me when I did it two years ago: 1) Budget time - you only have so much in a day.  Allocate when you are going to write and stick to it. 2) Limit Internet usage.  Log on as a reward after accomplishing your daily target WC. 3) Let your writing flow. Don't edit as you go along. 4) First and foremost have fun!

We’ve no doubt all run across those posts from authors announcing that they had to make modifications to their books, whether it be facts, editing/grammar, or other issues.    Whenever I’ve come across these, first, I was thankful it wasn’t me, but more importantly, I thought what courage on behalf of the author.    It built my respect for them.    It shows that they view their writing, the publishing industry, and their readers of utmost importance--and that’s the way it should be. Writing and publishing should be an evolution; not a destination.  For any of us to think that we published a book and now the journey is over would be ludicrous.  We should be continually growing, not only in the craft, our story-telling ability, but our comprehension and grasp of grammar. Add to this, there are times we come across reviews, or receive emails that may mention issues in a published book.  It’s never easy to see the low star ...

It took 4 tries and $80, but I have my US personal tax number!  Talk about a time to celebrate! If you're going through this process, you're probably starting to feel like you're applying to take over the Presidency.  But tax people and accountants, they want everything perfect, so unless you adhere to that bar of perfection you'll get back a rejection letter to your request for a US Tax Personal Tax Number, or as it's termed: ITIN. Why get a US tax number as a Canadian?  There is a treaty in place with the US that makes it so Amazon cannot withhold 30% of your earned royalties ,if you have this number.  In other words, that's 30% in your pocket faster. I'm going to lay everything out in step-by-step instructions.  First, you find the online form here .  Remember, this applies to Canadians.  For other countries there would be a different article number (I'm sure). You'll need to have acceptable forms of identification.  This can ...

Maybe the title brought to mind that older movie, Mickey Blue Eyes, when the waitress said  emphatically   “No! And then!”   Or perhaps you thought this would be a blog post on how to eradicate those two words, or the feeling of them, from your manuscript?   In fact, this post is on neither, but what it is focused on is the danger those two words are representative of--procrastination! Isn’t it true that as writers, authors, our days are full.  Not only do we have the daily concerns of life, and responsibilities that come therewith, but we have our aspirations to write, to edit, to reach another goal of some kind. If only the necessities of life would move aside so that we could fully focus on our heart’s desire--writing.  Maybe you’re like me and say the above-noted dangerous words, more than you wish to admit.  I’m sure you know how it goes, “I just have to tweet this, and then I’ll do my edits”, “I’ll check my email, and then I’ll w...

September is World Alzheimer's Month, and I thought what better time would there be than this to release my novella HART'S CHOICE .  Proceeds from the sale of this book are going to the Alzheimer Society of Canada--but not just for the month of September, ongoing. Here's my author note regarding HART'S CHOICE : When a character calls out to you from the realm of your imagination and insists you tell their story, it’s like magic.  Nothing can beat the rush that comes with the exploration of new characters and their world.  True fun also comes into play when these revelations take you in an unexpected direction from what you normally write. This happened to me with Tessa of HART’S CHOICE.  What had began as a short story became a novella and has the potential of one day becoming a full length novel—a project I may revisit. My wish is that all can enjoy this story of life, with its highs and lows, celebrations and losses.  I hope you find this stor...