“You made it so easy.” The woman on the other end of the phone laughed. She was referring to an email I’d sent to friends about Barnes And Noble’s holiday 20% discount on my books. I sent the message more for vanity than for sales. I was tickled to see my novel, Hear
I am sick of Facebook. I’m tired of its cutesy messages. I don’t want to celebrate the fact that Rudolf Valentino and I have been friends for 3 days. Nor do I want reports on the number of “likes” my comments receive in a week. Frankly, Facebook, I don’t give a damn.
It’s a joke so old, I don’t remember the punch line. A guy stands up in a town hall meeting and shouts a number. People around him laugh. A second person calls out another number and again those present break into applause. The community is so accustomed to one another, they’v
While sitting with a guest for tea at the retirement center, a gentleman, to whom I’d never spoken, paused by our table. “You’re the writer, aren’t you?” As I strive to be one, I nodded. “ Well, I wanted to tell you about the greatest opening to a novel I’ve ever r
Once, I confessed to a dear friend that I longed for someone in my life like Gustav Mahler’s wife. Her eyes swept to the top of her head, as I recall, and this she followed with a pause as she considered whether I was confessing to a lifestyle. I wasn’t. I was referring to
Several months ago, I broke with the last of my 4 publishers. I’ve had 4 because the first became ill and closed the business. Another bought a company that held my contract and turned out to be a crook. Law enforcement eventually shut him down. A third tried to change t
Recently, a former student contacted me. She was organizing a high school reunion which included several of my former pupils. She provided the time, date and location of the gathering, then asked if I’d care to attend. I was flattered, naturally, but more touched by her clos
Because we have access to more information than at any time in human history, it’s easy to uncover facts which align with our perceptions. Once we do, we cling to them with the tenacity of a dying woman to her rosary. Facts that don’t align, we view with suspicion. That’s wh
Make no mistake, after a writer completes a book, the work is less than halfway done. Of course, there’s the editing and the publishing, but the greatest piece is the promotion. As publicist Joanne McCall made clear in the first of my free summer seminars for writers, the tric
I bumped into an acquaintance at the grocery store the other day. He said the previous weekend he’d attended a conference for writers. What he learned from one book agent surprised him. According to her, some authors are finding inspiration by using Google’s search engine. T