I used to be a magician’s assistant. Nothing fancy. I did a few close-up bits that kept kids quiet on airplanes; I knew a few secrets that David Copperfield paid me not to tell. Mainly I wore a leotard and fishnets and pointed at things so no one would notice the magician furiously changing his clothes behind a screen. Much of it I’ve forgotten or have promised my lawyers I’ll never reveal until I see a few more zeroes on the offer. One trick, though, I can reliably pull off: when readers tell me they like my books and I ask them to post a few words for an Amazon review, these nice people invariably disappear. Ta-dah! Continue reading “How to Write a Book Review”
Author: Laurie Boris
Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer. She has been writing fiction for over twenty-five years and is the award-winning author of four novels. She lives in New York’s lovely Hudson Valley. Learn more about Laurie at her website and her Amazon author page.
NaNoWriMo Survival Tips
Okay, folks. You’ve heard your friends talking about this NaNoWriMo business. That it’s supposed to be SO much fun. That this wicked awesome month-long writing exercise put on every November will rev up your creativity and caffeinate your muse or whatever else you call that clump of ganglia that drops words into your brain and out your typing fingers. Yeah. It’s fun. I’ve done it five times. You watch the little thermometer fill up as your word count rises. You get scared and want to pump more stimulants into your body to keep up with your friends. They all seem to have cooler titles than yours, fleshed-out plot descriptions….heck, some of them even have PLOTS. And you, you pantser, all you have is an idea that came to you while you were out shopping for Halloween kiddie kibble. Urged on by all your writer friends on FaceTwit, you sign up. And then the panic starts. Fifty thousand words. Thirty days. You do the math. (Seriously, you do it. I hate math.) How the heck…? With a spouse? Kids? A job? And if you’re American, with all the little frilly white things you need to make to go over the Thanksgiving turkey’s feet? What’s up with that, anyway? Decorating a dead carcass with lace garters? No wonder the rest of the world hates us. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Survival Tips”
That’s the End? Are You Kidding Me?
How could I go wrong, right? It was a New York Times bestseller, written by a popular author, published by a company similar to one using a logo of a flightless aquatic bird. Took five weeks to get it on inter-library loan. It started well enough. A woman in a dull but dependable marriage finds herself drawn to a handsome stranger with blinding white teeth and spurs. Not the most original of plots, but good writing. The conflict builds. The author raises the stakes. The heroine digs herself in deeper. I was led to believe that the ending required a choice: stay with Mr. Hot Stuff, or go home to Mr. Dependable. Even if she chooses Plan C and walks off alone into the sunset, she MUST ACTIVELY MAKE A CHOICE. The credibility of the story depends on it. And then… fate intervenes. Mr. Hot Stuff dies in a random accident. The choice is gone. The author has blown it. The book flies across the room. I make many apologies to Marion the Librarian and slip her a sizable fine. Continue reading “That’s the End? Are You Kidding Me?”
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night…
I wasn’t looking for trouble when I asked to join that Facebook group. I was just your average overworked writer/editor dame looking for a few kindred spirits on a cold, rainy night. Okay, after a day of conjugating naughty words and deleting ellipses by the thousands, I wished some of those spirits were 100 proof. But, really, is that so wrong? Continue reading “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night…”