Category Archives: FA50 – Ramblings

Those of us who began writing fiction 20 years ago didn’t get lots of advice on how to do it. Back in the early 1990s, Janet and I… Belonged to a fiction critique group Attended a couple writers’ conferences every … Continue reading →

Transcript of a recent dumb discussion: Whippersnapper: Do you want to know the real problem with late-blooming novelists, as you call them? Me: Do you have a specific problem in mind? Whippersnapper: You bet… (Smug simper.) You’re all on ego … Continue reading →

Well… I’ve been in another noisy argument about whether or not to apply Digital Rights Management (DRM) to our eBooks. Actually, it was more than a mere argument; I recently took part in the sort of passionate debate that used … Continue reading →

When Hurricane Irene paid coastal North Carolina a visit, a particularly strong wind band hovered over New Bern, NC, and dropped a tall pine tree on our roof — doing mostly cosmetic damage that we were able to get fixed … Continue reading →

I wish I had a proverbial dollar for every time I’ve heard a late-blooming novelist say: “I want to spend my time writing fiction. I don’t want to publish novels, I don’t want to promote novels. My only job is … Continue reading →

If I may be excused for making a generalization about late bloomers, I believe that most of us think of novels as enduring creations that stay the same over the centuries. The first novel I read was the “Bobbsey Twins” … Continue reading →

For some reason, it’s become trendy for novelists who haven’t written a bestseller to describe themselves as “midlist eBook authors.” This is apparently supposed to mean that the novelists’ eBook sales chug along at a modest rate. That’s how two … Continue reading →

It was Patrick Henry who said that jealousy is the vice that gives no pleasure. Another oft-quoted definition was coined by the late Fulton J. Sheen, a bishop who gained prominence as a writer and broadcaster: Jealousy is the tribute … Continue reading →

One of the truly unpleasant things about the new publishing paradigm for most late bloomers is that self-published novelists are required to praise their own novels — on Amazon book pages, in blog posts, on websites, in email signatures, and … Continue reading →

A few years ago, our editor — a young whippersnapper — politely, but firmly, informed us that our writing “revealed” our age. We were, she reminded us, writing novels for readers in their twenties, thirties, and forties. “Don’t use figures … Continue reading →