Category archive: Books

Three Rules for Writing a Novel

Since I was having a bad day writing today, I made up this ecard and posted it on Facebook.  I guess a lot of other writers were having a similarly bad day, because it was shared more than anything I’ve ever posted before. Thank you very much, Somerset Maugham.    

Queen Mary Tudor aka Bloody Mary

As I revise my historical romance, Fires of Destiny, I once again find myself pondering the difficult life of one of England’s Queens, Mary Tudor, aka Bloody Mary. Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, ruled England during the period explored in Fires of Destiny. She attempted to turn her…

George R. R. Martin Write Like the Wind

Anyone who’s a fan of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones will love this filk song urging George to write faster!

Beginnings of the science of forensic toxicology

This is an interesting article for authors who are either researching the history of forensics or writing 19th century murder mysteries (link below). I confess that I’ve always been fascinated by the use of scientific methods in the investigation of murder…long before CSI ever gained such high visibility in popular culture.  I remember attending my…

How much do self-published authors earn?

Interesting article in The Guardian on the subject of earnings of self-published authors. The average for last year among the authors surveyed was about $ 10K, with romance writers the top earners.  But half of the authors reported earnings of less than $500. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/24/self-published-author-earnings

J. K. Rowling’s Openhearted World: Dumbledore is Gay

Cheers for J. K. Rowling! The author of the wonderful Harry Potter series has shown courage in her choices before, particularly when assailed by some extreme members of the religious right who burned copies of her novels (shudder) for their supposedly evil influence on our children. No doubt the book-burnings will begin anew now that…

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