Hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday season! I wish every day of my life was filled with tinsel and lights, like so: Alas! It's on to the New Year. Which brings to mind resolutions, especially of the writing variety. As an author, I actually don't start fresh on January 1st. Instead, I use a system of constant goals. For example, I have a standalone mystery that I've been tinkering around with since last year. Except I didn't quite make my personal cutoff date for constructing a … [Read more...]
November 1 and NaNoWriMo
November 1. It’s that time of the year again when I chicken turkey out. Why’s that? Because November is NaNoWriMo. Have you heard of it? NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit that promotes creative writing, but its well-known program is a month-long event which inspires people to write a 50,000-word manuscript in November. Originally, this challenge started among friends in 1999 but has since expanded to hundreds of thousands of participants all … [Read more...]
Fun Facts About Mailings
One area of expertise that I didn’t realize I needed to bone up on as a writer was the mail system. I already had an appreciation for the United States Postal Service. As a kid, it was exciting to watch the red flag (we had a classic mailbox) go up and down as mail was delivered and received. I loved finding deliveries in the box of postcards, letters—really anything that people sent us. As an author, I dived into the topic of mailings when I needed to send out my novels. Books are often … [Read more...]
MurderCon
"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." --fortune cookie saying MurderCon is an annual training event put on by the Writers’ Police Academy, and 2020 marks the 12th anniversary of the conference. Workshops taught by experts, combined with hands-on learning, are the draw of this special event for writers. I’ve heard about this conference for years, but because of the expenses involved (travel + lodging + fee), I had constantly put off attending it. Due to the pandemic, … [Read more...]
Wedding Woes is out in the Wild!
Hello, Winston Wong readers! You're in luck because his latest detective adventure is out. This time Winston is prepping for his wedding day--only to be snared in a murder case. Will he find the killer in time to fix everyone's happily ever after? Find Wedding Woes on Amazon and other retailers. P.S. If you purchase now, the e-book version is having a special 99 cents sale for a limited time! … [Read more...]