Singles For Sale

No reason to be unpublished. Amazon now has singles, see it here: Kindle singles.  Get your short stories together and submit one or two!

Borders Rip Off

It's sad to see the giant book store chain, Borders, go under. I was a big Borders fan, particularly after I held my first book signing there and saw my books on their shelves. Their coffee shop was the site for many informative critique sessions that helped launch my novel writing career.

But as Borders goes about the business of liquidating their assets, they are ripping off their loyal customers. MSN Money has the details here: Borders Jacks Up Prices. It appears that even with marked down prices, readers can buy books cheaper on Amazon or at Wal-Mart. Nice try, Borders. It's easy to see why your business failed with that kind of model.

Worked most of the day on a technical manual, Yikes!

The End

What we all feared has materialized: Borders will close forever. This hits our own little critique group particularly hard. Hopefully, we can regroup and find a suitable location. Read the story here: Borders Closing.

Help For Writing

I'm flying home from Vegas today where I attended the Public Safety Writers Assoc Convention. My trip was fruitful, in that I delivered a well-received presentation on the subject of "Developing Undercover Characters for Your Mystery/Thriller." I also won seven various awards for writing; but the First Place award for fiction novel (TARGETED) is the one I most cherish.


I met a multi-talented man, C.Scott Wyatt, who has a doctorate from the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota. His doctoral work explored teaching writing using technology, focusing on students who have special needs. Scott graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in English and journalism. He also earned a master’s degree in composition and rhetoric from California State University, Fresno. 


His website, Tameri Guide for Writers, is chock full of information. I recommend Scott's site as an additional resource for you, my fellow writers.

Book Recomendation

I just finished my review of Inmate 1577 by Alan Jacobson for the New York Journal of Books.  I was thoroughly intrigued by his level of research and character development. Read the review and decide for yourself if you want to read it. I highly recommend it, particularly for thriller/mystery writers.