Originally posted on Allison Maruska:
Nothing beats the feeling of typing The End following the last scene of your manuscript. You’ve spent weeks to months to years laboring over sentence construction, timeline details, and character development, among many other things. Now is the time to celebrate. Because soon, it will be time to edit. If…
In April, I was a judge for two writing contests – Dan Alatorre’s Word Weaver contest and Ryan Lanz’s short story contest. I was honored to be asked to fill the role once, let alone twice. And while I enjoyed judging great stories, I also learned a few things about how to make short stories…
Originally posted on Allison Maruska:
Starting April 6th, find links to the posts here. I’ll update it every few days. The original theme reveal post follows the links. A is for Atlanta Burns (YA mystery) B is for Blamed (Thriller) C is for Crow Vector (Pandemic/suspense) D is for 100 Days of Solitude (Memoir) E is for Eat, Pray,…
Hey, look at that! It’s Day Z, the last day of the A-Z challenge. I hope the past month has offered some interesting titles to add to your list. Our final Bookbag title, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, is a unique way to end the series. It features Zinzi, a young lady living in a…
Today’s Bookbag title is a sci-fi thriller that combines time travel, mind reading, and good doses of humor. Yesterday’s Thief by Al Macy is the first part of a series, all featuring a private investigator named Eric Beckman. This book is set in 2020, when self-driving cars, medical technology that allows for super-fast recovery, and…
I know, Extracted by R.R. Haywood doesn’t technically start with X, but considering the number of books that do start with X is basically none, I adopted Goodreads’s guideline for its alphabetical reading challenge lists. You only need an X in the title. And I wanted to read one I would probably enjoy. Side note…
We’re taking a step back from fiction today and into a different world, one that pokes fun at the bad writing we’re all guilty of from time to time. Wretched Writing: A Compendium of Crimes Against the English Language by Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras is a collection of writing snippets from various authors (though a…
Today’s title is a super crazy popular one that I picked more because I didn’t have any other V titles than because I thought it could use the exposure. Because it doesn’t. If Anne Rice’s Vampire books aren’t iconic yet, they’re pretty damn close. The Vampire Lestat is the follow-up to Interview with a Vampire,…
Today’s Bookbag title is the third part of a trilogy. I loved all three parts of the IA series, and I could have written about any or all of them, but since I and B were occupied with other books, IA: Union by John Darryl Winston gets the honors. Set in an urban area called…
Today’s Bookbag book is one I read a looooong time ago–so long ago I bought the ebook so I could refresh my memory. The good news is I probably could have written this post without the refresher, which makes me feel good about my brain. This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti takes place in a…
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