Donna's Blog

One Good Dog Is One Good Book

One Good Dog is a super novel, one that you do put down, but not because you want to: Because you can’t bear to see it end and you want to stretch it out as long as possible.

Writing in the Wine Country

You don’t have to live in San Francisco, or another major urban center, to thrive as a writer.Anywhere in California will do just fine, thank you.

Chicklit from the Block

What’s a nice suburban dude doing writing Chicano-chicklit?

Scribd.: the New Self-Publishing Highrise

You send a manuscript to New York agent.  The agent sends it to an editor who buys it for a lot of money.  Soon your book is on the New York Times bestseller list.
A dream? Well, as Bloody Mary sings in South Pacific, “You gotta have a dream/If you don’t have a dream/How you gonna make a dream come true?”

A Hand in History

It has been said that “the Internet is word of mouth writ large.”  (Why yes, in fact, it was first said by yours truly.  Thank you for asking.)  And so it was on the Internet that I “heard” about Lincoln’s Hand a new mystery by Joel Fox, published by Echelon Press, which introduces series hero Zane Rigby, an FBI agent with more baggage than will fit under the seat in front of him.

 

Cheap, but not Always Easy

(First published on FoxandHoundsDaily on August 6, 2010)

    On a busy New York street a young man stops an older passer-by.  “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

    The older man puts a hand on his shoulder.  “Practice, my boy.  Practice.”

Martha Alderson Plots to Help Us All

    Martha Alderson says, “Plot is more than just ‘what happens, what happens’ – it’s the characters’ reaction to the events, how they’re transformed by those events and, in the end, how it all connects thematically.”

Private Eyes Are Watching You

    As Reece Hirsch says, next time you feel like you’re being watched, you probably are.

    As a novelist, Reece Hirsch is the author of The Insider, a new legal thriller.  As an attorney, Hirsch specializes in privacy issues.

Two Jobs -- One Role

Keith Raffel made a dramatic career change when he left behind the world of Sillicon Valley venture capitalists for a career as a novelist.  Or did he?

Mary Kole: Raising Readers for YOU

    When Mr. Jobs declared, “Nobody reads anymore” (although my bet is that Stevie takes a peek at his own balance sheet once in awhile), many of us trembled.

    So it is worth noting that almost all adults who do love books will tell you that the romance began in childhood.  (My third grade teacher, Mrs. Ritter, was my matchmaker:  She introduced our class to Little House in the Big Woods.)

Joan, Frank

    In Envy Country is Joan Frank’s fourth book, second collection of short stories, and winner of the ND Sullivan Prize for Short Fiction.  
    If you’re tired of hearing intellectuals dourly predict the death of the novel, you do not want to hear them on the subject of short story collections.   Since I, “frankly” (you had to know that was coming), am more likely to pick up a novel than a book of stories, I asked Joan what draws her to that form.

Laura Shumaker Takes the Self-Publishing Challenge

Until just a few years ago, self-publishing was usually a waste of money and/or an exercise in vanity, and that were the best things about it.  But faster than you can say, "Steve Jobs will be taking a shower tonight!" Self-publishing has become a serious alternative for authors from first-timers to well-known names.

It may or may not be right for you.  For those who might be considering that route, I'd like to share the experience of some writers who've been there and done that.

I'll start with Laura Shumaker, an author and guru to the autism community.  I am a huge fan of her blog at www.sfgate.com because she writes about her autistic son Matthew with neither self-pity nor self-aggrandizing claims.

David Corbett Travels True North

    Novelists often have an inner compass that leads them to timely events ahead of time.  David Corbett has just published his fourth novel, Do They Know I’m Running? and it centers around the issue of illegal immigration.  Coincidence?  You be the judge.
    Hint: It’s not a coincidence.
    Dislike, distrust and outright hatred of immigrants dates back to our country’s infancy.  Even Alexander Hamilton was the object of smear campaigns as being the only “founding father” of note who was not born in one of the thirteen colonies.

Mark Coggins and the Sexy Outsider

Mark Coggins has already taken the gold in this year’s Independent Publisher awards for his fifth August Riordan mystery, The Big-Wake-Up( http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1362), and he’s now a finalist for ForeWord’s  Book of the Year award in the mystery category http://www.bookoftheyearawards.com/finalists/2009/category/fiction-mystery/.

If you don’t know August Riordan personally (yet), you know his progenitors.  Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are the most widely-known of these tough-on-the-outside, soft-as-nonfat-yogurt-underneath, kick-ass-and-take-names-later dicks, I mean PI’s.

You Can Take It with You

I have already written in praise of the Kindle.  My love grows ever deeper, and along with that, my missionary zeal.  Therefore I would like you to check out www.reason.com/archives/2010/03/23/dont-fear-the-e-reader.  It's a more even-handed and far more thorough look at these new devices, which are sold by several companies and will likely be sold by more in the future.

(Elizabeth) Stark Realities

“Writing is the only art where people want not to have to practice,” says Elizabeth Stark.  I have a theory for why this is so: Writing fiction does not require any special equipment. What do you need besides a pencil and your own imagination?

In spite of the urban legends about self-taught geniuses (a few of which are true), most of us mortals need someone like Elizabeth Stark who is not only a writer herself (Shy Girl, Seal Press), but a teacher, editor and coach. Her website is  ElizabethStark.com and I recommend you go there immediately – heck, even if you aren’t a writer – for the simple joy of getting blown away without breaking any laws.

Adair Lara Is Naked and Drunk

I'm not good at faking (more's the pity) so I'm going to come right out and say that Adair Lara is a "close, personal friend of mine," as a certain entertainer was famous for saying -- and as I am quite proud to say in this case.   She was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for fifteen years which made her a local celeb.  I have gone about the city with her and watched strange women (not "odd" women, just women I don't know) clasp her arm up to the elbow and effuse, "M-my God, you're writing about my life!"

Jacquelyn Mitchard on Motherhood

I had the pleasure, this past February, of hearing Jacquelyn Mitchard speak at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference. I was glad that she was so inspiring because otherwise you could get darn intimidated: nine novels (at last count) and seven children (at last count). These numbers don’t include her books for young readers or her non-fiction.

After Mitchard’s talk a woman asked, “What advice do you have for those of us who have young children and find it so taxing?” Mitchard’s response, “I think you’re trying to be too good a parent.”

A Woman's Work

Quit Your Day Job

In The Art of Fiction, John Gardner said that the best job for a writer to have was a spouse willing to support him or her.  Lest any of his readers feel guilty about such an arrangement, he went on to say that the husband or wife in question should feel it was a privilege to get that close to the creative process.

I find this proposition unrealistic, irritating and, most of all, arrogant.  I have also discovered it true.  Writing gurus preach that you can always find time to write if you want to.  Even I -- mea culpa -- have asserted this often, in seminars and in my writing book.  "Start with ten minutes a day.  Get up ten minutes earlier.  Don't wear make up."

Right.  Like I would leave the house without it.