[reposted from February 11, 2008] I was interviewed about Prepared for Rage this morning by a very nice woman named Diana from Westwood One. Diana asked me a question I’ve been thinking about off and on all day: What did I want the reader to take from the book, what did I want the book to accomplish? I…
Dana sez–Good lord, has it really been fifteen years since I keynoted OWFI’s “Write Every Day Conference?” Astonishingly, much of what follows is still true. Write Every Day ConferenceOklahoma Writers Federation 2010 ConferenceKeynote speech on Online Marketing Campaigns for Books When Dan Case invited me to give the keynote address at this year’s OWFI conference,…
To be a writer is to embrace rejection as a way of life. –Dana Stabenow So there I was, sitting at the Edgars. A Cold Day for Murder had been nominated for one so you will understand why I was not wholly in my body in that moment, so it took a while to recognize…
Pamela Paul’s account of the story of Jeannine Cummins’ novel, American Dirt, written in 2023, three years and three months after the book published. (There’s a buy link under that title and I suggest you use it, because it’s a good book.) Some excerpts from Paul’s column: In one of those online firestorms the world…
A Bluesky thread from an indie bookseller, bwo of Kottke. The news ain’t all bad, folks. In Homer, Alaska I recommend the Homer Bookstore. General fiction, with a nice sideline in Alaskan authors. In Scottsdale, Arizona, The Poisoned Pen, aka Author Event Central. They know how to order and they know how to ship.
The last Phryne Fisher novel, publishing in November 2025. From Allen & Unwin, publishers of Kerry Greenwood (1954-2025): Allen & Unwin is grieving the loss of Kerry Greenwood who died on 26 March 2025 after a courageous battle with ill health. Kerry was incredibly accomplished in so many different areas. She had two burning ambitions…
The Raeside cartoon above has its own shrine on my wall. This post by Damon Linker, Lament for the Declining Art of Editing, recently popped up in my feed, as random animadversions so often do in this Internet age. So okay, some guy whining about Taylor Swift, what else is new, and I haven’t heard the…
If you’re an aspiring author, this is all the advice you need. The original edition The Elements of Style was written as a textbook in 1918 by English professor Will Strunk, Jr. It was revised, added to and published by one of his students, E.B. White, and has yet to go out of print. White,…
Written by Alan Gordon for Karen Odden‘s March 5th newsletter and reposted here by permission. As I told Alan I never know what the hell a cosy is myself and I hate labels anyway. His essay explains it all for us. To Coze Or Not To Coze By Alan Gordon, AKA Allison Montclair[or is it the other…
People always ask writers where we get our ideas. Usually I say “the idea fairy” and leave it at that. Ideas come from any and everywhere, something I read or a story I heard or a headline in the media. Once it was my father watching a Cessna on floats taking off from Lake Hood…
