Dixie Lee Duran. I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone else named Dixie. That’s fitting, I suppose. My mother was the brains behind our family. She loved art and animals, two traits I’ve inherited. Toads, snakes, lizards, hamsters, ducks, chickens, dogs — we had them all. And she was creative: drawing, painting, scrapbooking, reading, quilting, [...]
Reading widely used to be a luxury, but apparently now that I’m a writer, it’s a hindrance. I was recently asked by my publisher for some comparable titles for my second novel The Telling. “Comparable titles” help the marketing team discern a target, a demographic, a genre. You know, “If you liked Water for Elephants, [...]
One result of the publishing industry’s growing pains is a plethora of new terminology. Like “vertical community.” I’m not sure who initially coined the term, but the concept behind it is fascinating, and one I’ve been thinking about lately. Apparently, marketing widely, to reach as broad an audience as possible (would this be horizontal marketing?), [...]
It wasn’t long ago that I railed against Twitter and vowed to remain Twitterless. Now, almost three years later, I have 430 Twitter Followers and am a fairly big Twitter fan. Furthermore, since that little rant, I have purchased an SEO friendly web template, installed a Google Friend Connect box (in my sidebar there), embedded [...]
In her post Book Genres and Blog Stats, literary agent Rachelle Gardner summarized the findings from a recent poll of her blog readers. Surprisingly, the largest percentage of her readers were writing fantasy and sci-fi. Why is this surprising? For one, Rachelle represents neither of these genres. Secondly, the CBA (Christian Bookseller’s Association) publishes very [...]
Between technology and the recession, traditional publishing is undergoing major changes, giving rise to new models, methods, and varieties of publishing houses. One such fledgling publisher is Port Yonder Press (PYP). Launched two years ago, PYP is just beginning to carve a niche for itself in this brave new world of books. Managing editor and [...]
A fair share of writers do not write to music. At times, I’m one of them. This is probably because I like to talk to myself during the process and music only distracts from my conversation. Nevertheless, there are times when the perfect remedy for a sluggish story is music. Galley Cat’s Find Great Writing [...]
Don’t you love Before and After pics? Well, these two photos are more than just years apart, they’re worlds apart. I was 21 and Lisa was 17, the year was 1979, and our worlds were about to be rocked. I had survived a horrible car wreck and an even worse alcoholic home. But I was [...]
There’s no shortage of advice out there for aspiring and beginning authors. But knowing when NOT to take advice may be as important as knowing when to heed it. I learned this within my first year of pursuing publication. At the time, I was preparing a short story for a contest put on by an [...]
Reviewing Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love was, for me, a lot like treading on holy ground. At least, that’s how iconic the novel seems to have become in many Christian circles. So several weeks ago when I took the Romance Challenge and pledged to read one Christian Romance novel, Redeeming Love was, as I expected, one [...]
