Okay, the Plutoed giveaway on Amazon is over. The results were, I think, pretty good. The story was downloaded by 598 people during the five-day promotion. 438 were in the U.S., 137 in the U.K., 17 in Germany, one in Spain and one in Italy (not bad, considering it’s in [...]
Head over to Amazon and check out my latest short story release, Plutoed. I’ve listed it with KDP Select, which means it’s exclusive to Amazon for 90 days, but also, for the next three days, it’s FREE. Right now, it’s at #22 in free humor, and it’s climbing. It’s also [...]
It’s been said that a writer is the worst judge of his/her own work. And it really is true. For some, it’s because they have a strong ego; for others, it’s because they are too self-critical – but for all of us, it’s because we are just too close to [...]
A lot of writers I’ve associated with have this thing about writing – they make it some kind of ritual. “It’s gotta be in a quiet room.” “I have to have my cup of coffee next to me.” “I must have Bach playing in the background.” “I have to be [...]
Many writers don’t realize that writing is like pretty much any other skill – that is, you need to PRACTICE. Of course, that presupposes that there is room for improvement. Part of the problem is that many writers think that once they know how to put a story on paper, [...]
DRIVE – you won’t get far without it There are lots of essential ingredients to achieving success in a fiction writing career. Talent (or skill) is certainly key – but a gift for writing, alone, will not get you there. Some may say “it’s not what you know, but who [...]
In my last blog post, I made reference to one of the most important things I’ve learned about writing fiction as a career. (Back in my TV news days, we’d have called that a “tease.”) You may have heard this before, but it’s always worth another look. First, a caveat: [...]
For a fiction writer, the road to success is paved with rejections. Lots of them. Lots and lots and lots of them . . . Over the years, I’ve received hundreds of rejections. Did I ever get discouraged? Of course not. Developing a career as a fiction writer is a [...]