A recent meeting with a marketing expert goes something like this: HER: What do you feel is most important when it comes to content on your web site? Me: (Mental response) I don’t know. Me: (Verbal response) Whatever will draw more readers to it and encourage them to buy my…
I rarely read non-fiction for a couple of reasons. First and foremost it takes me a long time to read a non-fiction book. I can generally only manage a few pages a sitting which my pea brain must then absorb before I can go back and try to glean some…
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson. I read Gods in Alabama by this author a year or so ago. Jackson is a subtle writer and writes with a haunting lyricism. She never comes at you directly, never spells it out for you. Evidently, she has enough respect for…
There is no way to explain to someone who’s never written a book, never edited it for (let’s call it what it is) self-publishing, how incredibly tedious and time-consuming the process is. Just when you think it’s perfect and you’ve found and corrected every small mistake in your manuscript, a…
Hidden by Shelley Shepard Gray. I think I’m noticing another trend in the “inspirational” novels I’ve read. Not enough set-up. Whether this is an editing or an author issue, I can’t say. All I know is the heroine’s motivation seems weak at best much too often. In this particular book,…
GET ORGANIZED! PLAN TO STAY ORGANIZED! Someone should benefit from my twenty-plus years of doing everything the hard way. Way back when I started writing novel-length fiction I’ll be the first to admit I had no idea what I was doing. I flew by the seat of my pants and…
For those of you who don’t know, Picky Reader blogs are my comments about books I’ve recently read. Not reviews and not necessarily recommendations, but if I loved it, I’ll say so. A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne. A young girl’s perception of events in her neighborhood and…
Picky Reader’s Latest Reads Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner. I think I’ve read every book Lisa Gardner has published. If you enjoy suspense, read her. Blood by Patricia Traxler and The Distance Between Us by Bart Yates. They are both well-written and enjoyable reads. If you like moody, sort…
Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax. Gosh, there’s a lot going on in this novel. Lots of sub-plots and characters. All the characters seem to have something to hide. Secrets, if you will. I guess ultimately, that’s the theme of the book. We all have this convenient ability to avoid the…
