Category / Writing

This is the third and latest book in the series featuring eccentric librarian Hester Thursby and her crowd. Hill has a fascinating view of humans and their nature. Rather than following the story of Hester’s almost sister-in-law, this book introduces us to a family running a for-profit college and features their secrets as they play out in dramatic fashion in the present day. It shows Hill’s mastery of the unconventional mystery. Though there is a murder to be solved, the …

This is a terrific book. I only wish I had read the first in the series (so far there are only two), Norwegian by Night, but this one manages to be funny and profound in the context of a suspenseful story. The interplay between Sigrid, the Detective Superintendent from  and Irv, the upstate New York sheriff and her American (sort-of) law enforcement counterpart provides lots of humor and warmth but also pointed commentary on American culture. The commentary ranges from …

The very first step of the process of writing your very own award winning best-seller is to banish all doubt. Listen to your muse, don’t get discouraged, you can do it! I’m going to show you how.

Second step: be open to feedback. You don’t know it all. You didn’t know you could write an award-winning best-seller, did you. Did you?? So there.

Be open to feedback, but not everything—be selective. You know best—except maybe you thought you did when …

I’m a bit befuddled and, as a result, bogged down in my writing. Otherwise I wouldn’t have time to write this post.

Nor am I in a position to tout my extensive accomplishments as a published writer: I’ve self-published one novel, to rather local acclaim (meaning family and friends and surrounding households) and have another perpetually almost ready, with another two in progress.

But that’s the point. I’m your typical lower level, chronically addicted Grubby. I’ve taken many craft and …

OK, so this may sound silly. Of course, writers need to read, and they do. It’s what they get out of reading that has me thinking. As I’ve gotten more serious about my own writing, and been inspired by examples from writing classes, I’ve returned to reading more serious writers. Studying that kind of literary writing, the best examples of the craft, must be helpful to my own, right? Well, in some respects, but maybe not as much as I’d …

I just attended a class at Grub Street in Boston on Minor and Supporting Characters, part of Tim Weed’s Novel Revision Series. Tim is by far my favorite writing teacher. he really gets the balance between instruction and support, and while he offers concrete suggestions that are well-explained, he consistently espouses finding your own way and staying true to your own vision, and trying new things without worrying about criticism.

The class was terrific, but it raised one issue …

First a disclosure: I love swearing. I love to swear, I love to hear others swear—fucking love it.

So it’s no surprise that I like to hear my own characters swear.

But I also get it that others don’t necessarily share my taste in that area, and it can be polarizing. So I try hard to moderate it, to have my characters swear for a reason: if the situation calls for it, to reveal an aspect of their character, to …