STORYWORLD

 I wrote the following article for a guest blog post on the wonderful blog, The Book Connection. Check it out here for some great info and insights about books and reading. “We’re all strangers connected by what we reveal, what we share, what we take away–our stories. I guess that’s what I love about books–they are thin strands of humanity that tether us to one another for a small bit of time, that make us feel less alone or even more comfortable with our aloneness, if need be.” I spent thirty years as a high school English teacher before I left the confines of the classroom and became a full-time writer. I still chuckle, however, when I think of the questions commonly listed in well-intentioned curriculum guides, that ultimately led to tortured and puzzled expressions on the faces of the seventeen year olds sitting in my classroom. One of the most popular questions was, “What is the theme of this novel?” Here’s how the discussion usually went: STUDENT: What’s a

The publishing industry is rapidly opening up to independently published authors, and what's the new valuable currency for this new flock of writers? Book reviews. When an author gets a positive review on Amazon or Goodreads, it not only provides valuable feedback, but can also help to drive the sales of the book. Here's how independent authors use reviews: - Before a book is published an author often seeks "beta reviewers". These are readers, usually solicited by the author from their circle of friends, from Facebook writer forums, or from Goodreads (I've had great success finding beta readers from this site). Beta readers give honest feedback before the novel is published. They're like a test market for the book. Often the author asks the readers to post these reviews on Amazon and Goodreads as part of a book launch strategy. - Book reviews help authors to get promotional spots on important sites like BookBub , the grandaddy of e-book promotion. Ch

Right now I'm looking out of a coffee shop window onto blowing snow and realizing that it's actually the coldest winter here since 1893 with temperatures hovering between -22C and -35C, although with the wind chill it's more like -45C. For those of you living in milder climes, that's probably unimaginable, but life does still go on here and, yes, I did actually walk the dog when it was -27C outside. It's so cold here, the attached garage is colder than the freezer part of my refrigerator. Something you discover when you leave bottles of beer and cans of pop outside then discover they've frozen solid and exploded onto your car during the night. This week we've actually been colder than Iqualuit, which is way closer to the North Pole than we are. You might think that all this frigid weather would get me down, but instead I've tried to channel it into my writing. Hence the birth of my new novel, LILAH, a suspense story set in the fictional town of Silve