Sunday Inspiration: “Love isn’t something natural”
“Love isn’t something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn’t a feeling, it is a practice.” –Eric Fromm Years have passed since I read Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving, but I still find his notions of love to be inspirational. Fromm doesn’t sugar coat love and…
Read MoreMaybe It Could: Changing Facts in Fiction
Last week I wrote about the way novelists incorporate facts into their fiction. While I was at it I also explored the way we sometimes ignore facts in order to advance and suit our particular plots. I listed some general rules I’ve created for myself. This week I thought I’d be more specific. Recently I…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Don’t Be A Jerk!
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of my favorite blogs is by John Pavlovitz titled Stuff That Needs To Be Said. Please visit it if you’re so inclined. You will find so much food for thought. His latest blog, titled Life Is Short. People Are Hurting. Don’t Be A Jerk, struck me as especially…
Read MoreHow Much of Fiction is Fiction?
So you pick up a book by an author you love, and before you begin the story, you read the author’s note. “If you’ve ever been to Anytown,” he/she says, then you know that the river flowing downtown doesn’t stop at Everywhere Street. In fact there is no Everywhere Street. And let’s face it, the…
Read MoreAnother Reading Challenge Begins
I’m delighted to say our 2019 Read Along With Emilie Richards Reading Challenge was a success. The challenge developed organically from the Facebook Group: Read Along With Emilie Richards. While we didn’t keep score or names of participants, and we didn’t give prizes or ask for sign ups, we did something much more exceptional. We…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Martin Luther King
“I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.’” — Martin Luther King, Jr. For many people Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.…
Read MoreI Can’t Make This Stuff Up!
I’m going great guns on my new book after so much time away over the holidays, so blogging has taken a back seat. But I couldn’t help but think of you as I read my morning paper today, so I’m checking in quickly. So often I’m asked where I get my ideas. I’ve explained how…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: The Ebb and Flow of Life
“We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid that it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in…
Read MoreLet There Be Suspects Winner
Congratulations to Shanna H., new winner of a copy of Let There Be Suspects . Remember this giveaway? We announced it on December 17 and readers were asked to choose which holiday took second place in my newsletter’s Twelve Books of Christmas giveaway earlier in the month. (No surprise, but the first choice was Christmas.)…
Read MoreThe Joys of Research: The Tarpon Springs Epiphany Celebration
I know how lucky I am to make up stories for a living. Of course life for novelists isn’t staring into space with a cup of tea. Tearing out our hair, questioning our sanity, and wishing we had a job that didn’t hover over us during every waking hour–and many hours while we’re sleeping, too–is…
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