In my earlier post about my trip to the Midwest Booksellers’ Association in Minneapolis, I mentioned that at the dinner hosted by Penguin on the Thursday night, there had been some spirited discussion between booksellers about what made for the best author events. Certain booksellers felt that, as a general rule, authors should never read from their books at book …
Unplugging
I’ve just come back from a few days away from Missouri. The children were not with me over Thanksgiving this year, and of course my family all live thousands of miles away, so there didn’t seem to be much point hanging around. Turkey for one, sir? So I took off, for a quick visit to Philadelphia – somewhere I’d never …
Galleys Ahoy
On Monday morning, the nice UPS man knocked on my office door with a package from New York. In it were five galleys, or Advanced Reading Copies, or ARCs, of A GOOD AMERICAN. These are, essentially, final softcover versions of the book (it will be published in hardback) complete with (brilliant) cover art, embarrassing author photo, blurbs, and what-have-you. Penguin …
Take Cover!
I am very proud finally to be able to show you the US cover for A GOOD AMERICAN. I had discussed various possible themes with Amy soon after the text was finished, but really had no idea what to expect when this little electronic file plopped into my inbox. I was, I can admit now, a little apprehensive. But I …
Maine
Earlier this week I arrived back in Missouri after a blissful week in Maine. From ME to MO. What a difference a letter makes. I wrote a lot, read a lot, climbed a few mountains, and ate an awful lot of delicious fresh seafood. My cottage was on a secluded cove near Acadia National Park. It was a one-room wooden …
Music for the Ages
Finally, a respite from all the advice. Now it’s my turn to ask for your help. (And, I know. You never asked for mine.) I’ve been having a fine old time lately enjoying Spotify, a music website that has (finally) been made available over here in the US. It is an amazing resource and I have been discovering lots of …
Finding Time to Write, Part 3 – Prevarication/Getting Started
So, to business. If for no other reason than in a doubtless doomed attempt to impress you all, let’s start with a quote from the mercurial French writer, Jules Renard, writing in his journal: “A fly alighting on the sheet of white paper was excuse enough to give himself the right to be idle. He did not write, for fear of …
Finding Time to Write, Part 2 – Required Reading
A while ago my friend Tim Miles gave me a gift. It was a book – THE WAR OF ART by Steven Pressfield. This is what it looks like: It is a short and brilliant book. And if you are serious about writing, you should read it. Pressfield writes in a refreshing, no-bullshit way about the creative process. He beautifully …
Finding Time to Write, Part 1
A couple of years ago I was asked to give a talk to the Mid-Missouri Writers’ Guild about how to find time to write. I suppose I was quite well qualified to waffle on about this, since – at the time – I was running my own law firm, overseeing operations of the largest outside water park in mid-Missouri (both …
Death Becomes Me
For all those of you who are contemplating writing a multi-generation saga for your next novel, a word of warning for you. All of my previous books have taken place over a relatively short time period. One of the things I wanted to do with my new novel was to expand that rather tired palette (to mix artistic metaphors) and …