The other day on a podcast, entrepreneur and author Joanna Penn said something like you only worry about work/life balance when you dislike what you do. This caught my ear. My feelings about how work fits in my life, or how it "should" fit, have changed during the last six months, partly because I've shifted professionally so that most of my work time relates to my thriller writing. Even so, I'm not sure I completely agree with Joanna's comment. During the 14+ years when the majority of my work ...
Read More
writing
6 Things I Learned In The Last Year About Writing And Business
During much of the last fourteen years, I worked full-time--and then some--as a lawyer and wrote fiction on the side. Last year, I gradually shifted gears so that now more than half my professional life is devoted to writing and to the business side of writing. Below are a few things I've learned along the way.Get Out: Getting outside once a day, no matter what the weather, boosts my mental health. Much as writing all day at an antique desk in my home office sounds appealing when it's ten ...
Read More
Work, Wine, Twitter & The Hop
I've met many fun, kind and talented people through Twitter. One of them is fantasy writer Kyle Newton, whose sense of humor I love, and who tagged me in a blog hop. His blog is required reading for me when I need inspiration or want to laugh or both. As for what I'm up to (required questions for hopping):1 – What am I working on (or struggling not to work on in my version of the hop) –Here's the crazy thing I discovered - when you work for yourself, it's hard to not work. In cont...
Read More
Sin, Sex and the Art of Persuasive Writing
My parents used to subscribe to a Catholic magazine with a column for young adults. When I was in high school, I read one of the columns that advised teenagers that the Bible clearly showed pre-marital sex was wrong - just look at the Sixth and Ninth commandments. I didn't remember anything in the Ten Commandments about pre-marital sex. I checked my parents' Bible (no Internet at that time, so I used the index - remember those?). The Sixth Commandment prohibits adultery. The ...
Read More
Anatomy of (Rewriting) a Thriller
A few people have asked me where The Awakening II is. Which makes me very happy, as I hope it means they read The Awakening. The answer makes me less happy: It's on my dining room table. That is, the first draft of it is. A second/third draft (I rewrite in pieces) is in the laptop. I should add that, actually, first I outline, which sometimes takes longer than the first draft. So I basically write from point to point in my outline, in sort of a mad dash to the end. &nbs...
Read More
Why Do I Like Don Draper?
Warning - This Post Contains Mad Men Season 6 SpoilersA male friend -- who isn't a Mad Men fan -- watched the Season 6 premiere with me. Afterwards, he turned to me and said, referring to Don Draper, "I don't understand why you like this character." As a writer, I always want to understand what makes a particular character compelling or likable, or both or neither. As to Don, for me, it's both. The puzzle is, why? Don Draper is a womanizer, he treats my favorite characte...
Read More
