Blogcritics Category: Books: The Writing Life

A Ringside Reality: He Found A Million Dollar Maybe

Alice Jester — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:31:23 EDT

At 39, Bill Coleman gave up his comfortable life to pursue his dream of becoming a professional boxer. He wrote a book about it.
On July 19, a one round, one minute long boxing match took place at the Cut Off arena outside of New Orleans. It really wasn't much of a contest as a southpaw by the name of Thomas Dardar came out swinging, and after delivering a few solid punches, one resulting in a knockdown, the fight was over in decisive fashion. To boxing fans, the fight...

Interview with Adventurer and Travel Writer Brandon Wilson

Mayra Calvani — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:59:14 EDT

"We were shot at, trudged through a blizzard, slowly starved, never knew where we would spend the nightor if wed be taken into police custody."
Brandon Wilson is an adventurer and travel writer. From the Himalayas, to Mount Kilimanjaro, to the Camino de Santiago, to his most recent 2,620-mile trek from France to Jerusalem, Wilson has been in over a hundred countries and faithfully recorded his experiences in his books. He's the author of the award-winning titles Yak Butter Blues, Dead...

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Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:59:14 EDT

Interview with Stephen V. Masse, author of A Jolly Good Fellow

Dorothy Thompson — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:48:03 EDT

"I wrote my first novel at 13, an embarrassing little tome about a teenager who saves a girl and himself from nuclear war."
What do you get when you combine a self-styled Santa Claus, an eleven-year-old boy runaway and an attempted kidnapping that goes awry? That's the premise of Stephen V. Masse’s delightful new book, A Jolly Good Fellow, published by Good Harbor Press.We have Stephen here with us to find out more...Thank you for this interview, Stephen. Can...

Interview with Christopher Meeks, Author of Months and Seasons

Mayra Calvani — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:24:13 EDT

"The best thing I recommend is learning how to write a fabulous one-page query or cover letter."
Christopher Meeks is the author of the short story collections The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and the more recent Months and Seasons. He has been a journalist, critic, playwright, and screenwriter. Currently he divides his time between writing and teaching at five different colleges. He's the editor of the ecclectic news magazine, The...

Book Review: The Write Advice - Inspirations, Observations and Affirmations from Classic and Contemporary Writers by Michael Meanwell

Maggie Ball — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:53:21 EDT

Affirm that you can write well often enough and it becomes embedded in your subconscious mind, and ultimately a reality.
I’m in two minds about affirmations. On the one hand, my ‘child-of-hippies’ pragmatic self wants to reject the whole idea as new age claptrap. Just get on with your writing, already. You don’t need a mantra. On the other hand, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone, especially writers, who didn’t have some kind of...

Interview with Cody McFadyen, Author of The Face of Death

Mayra Calvani — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:50:02 EDT

"Finding the agent was definitely the hardest part."
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Cody McFadyen is the author of the international bestsellers Shadow Man and The Face of Death. A third book, The Darker Side, is coming out this October. In this in-depth, candid interview, McFadyen talks about his books, inspiration, his writing habits, the difficult aspects of writing, negative criticism, and his...

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Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:50:02 EDT

An Interview with First Time Novelist Jayne Pupek

Lisa Solod Warren — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:21:35 EDT

"I don't believe much in muses and inspiration. I believe in hard work. And I believe that my delete key is my friend."
Jayne Pupek’s first novel Tomato Girl is scheduled for publication August 26, by the prestigious southern publisher Algonquin Press. Pupek is something of an anomaly in today’s publishing world; although she had published a book of poetry, Tomato Girl is her first novel and both getting an agent and getting a publisher were rather...

A New Beginning in Writing Fiction - Maybe

Richard Marcus — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 17:58:56 EDT

I'm a firm believer in magic; I think you have to be in order to tell a story that hasn't been created before.
Near the beginning of 2006 I finished the final draft of my first novel. I had started writing it the previous November during something called the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), during which the objective is to write 50,000 words during the month. Of course 50,000 words is barely half way towards finishing a decent sized novel, but by...

An Enlightening Interview with the Author of Dead Witness

Christopher Hoare — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 08:02:39 EDT

Three agents couldn't sell it, but she can.
Today I interview author Joylene Nowell Butler about her publication of the crime thriller Dead Witness, as well as on her writing philosophy and experience. Welcome to Blogcritics for this interview, Joylene. We have been e-mail writer friends for a number of years, either in the same critique groups or out of them, so our discussion isn’t...

Book Review: The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edward

Nancy Fontaine — Fri, 1 Aug 2008 16:02:12 EDT

A How-To for the Book Review.
The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards is an A-to-Z how-to manual on book reviews that lays out the elements of reviews written for the general reader. If you've never written a book review and would like to learn how, this book is a good place to start.Part One, "The Art of Reviewing," includes...

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Fri, 1 Aug 2008 16:02:12 EDT