Month: March 2012

Meet the Author: Melissa Pearl

Author Melissa Pearl

Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has spent much of her life abroad, living in countries such as Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan… not to mention a nine month road trip around North America with her husband. She is now back in NZ and lives with her husband and two sons, but is moving to China in August 2012.

“I think I am quite good at writing a page-turner. I like to keep my work pacey, with lots of great dialogue and intense action. I’m not a huge fan of too much description and therefore my stories tend to move along quite quickly. I think I’m pretty good at character development too and writing relationships that the audience really want to see work out,” she says. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Melissa Pearl”

Tuesday Tutorial – Facebook URLs Revisited

Facebook Author PageSince this is still running rampant amongst author pages, I felt it was a good time to re-run this post. One of the most common…flubs, for lack of a better word…that I see is a Facebook author page with a discombobulated URL. I must see at least one or two a day. “Come check out my page!” they’ll say to me, presenting me with a link that looks like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-the-author/260458930631195. Hey, Judy, guess what? No one’s going to remember how to get to your author page with a link like that. Continue reading “Tuesday Tutorial – Facebook URLs Revisited”

Assume The Position: Ergonomics for Computer Users

Author Laurie Boris
Author Laurie Boris

Yeah. I see you there, slumping in front of your computer. Or leaning back, one foot on the kitchen table with your compact computer-type device in your lap. Sitting like that for hours. Hurt anywhere lately? Neck, shoulders, back a little stiff? Hands? Do you order pain medication without child-guard caps ‘cause it hurts too much to open the darned things?

I get it. We’re writers. We suffer for our art. But along with doing the stretching exercises I wrote about here, you can reduce your physical pain and stress—without going broke—by modifying how you work. Aside from an active imagination and the ability to convert the words in your head into something people want to read, good computer posture over time can add years to your writing life. For instance: Continue reading “Assume The Position: Ergonomics for Computer Users”