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The Last 300 words: A Query LetterI wrote a 80,000 word book that got shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award for unpublished novels and then, decided it needed work so, I did...
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Trains of Thought: Train Trip Fails and FoiblesIt's June, and your author is out and about traveling. Not by train this year, though trains are my favorite way to get around. In the...
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My father had the goods!Via Depositphotos.com (under license). I thought I’d follow up my Mother’s Day post with one about my Dad, since it’s...
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The Who and the What and the…My Uncle Rick was the first person I ever met who entertained aspirations of becoming a writer. My dad wrote poetry. He just didn’t write it...
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Like A Pendulum DoBritish Museum Bookstore In our last exciting adventure I discussed my family's recent trip to Crete. As long as...
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Your Story Idea HereI was driving over the weekend and saw a billboard that prompted me to widen my eyes and think, what the ______ (fill in the blank as you...
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Write the next chapter, or install a new mailbox? Hmm.I always want to be doing anything other than the thing I’m supposed to be doing. This is the impulse that drives my...
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The Week in PicturesFor friends who claim I don’t reveal much truly personal, pfffft . End of month, I’m getting a colonoscopy. So there. That’s personal....
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Springtime StoriesI live in Mississippi--the land of magnolia blossoms, blues music, and gator-related accidents (just kiddin'), and where spring thankfully...
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Favorite StoriesFavorite short stories Since my story "Cruelty the Human Heart" (first published in Argosy II magazine, 2004) ) was included in the...
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Rumors of the Lost ArkHistory is a mystery, and I think that's why there's a number of us - Rob Lopresti, Doolin' Dalton, myself, and others - who are fascinated with...
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A Thousand Stories DeepNot the author I mentioned last time that my wife and I are archaeology buffs. This led to us spending part of...
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You Can Be the JudgeAt conferences like Malice and Bouchercon, I hear about the techniques authors use to memorialize their thoughts. Story ideas don't come to...
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How much of a misfit can a writer be?I have never been able to write harmless fiction. My characters, their backgrounds, and their motivations keep drifting outside the lines. And by...
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Raising MoneyA few years ago, my Huey pilot buddy and I sat down to see if we could brainstorm a short story. Something different than we had conjured up in...
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"Why don't you write about Gina Gallo's Grandmother?" or Where do you get your Ideas?Ah, the timeless question. Where do you get your ideas? I think it was Stephen King who talked about a little mail-order store in...
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They Don't Write 'Em Like That AnymoreWith apologies to Greg Kihn. I just finished listening to The Iliad on audio. Read by Dominic Keating of Star Trek: Enterprise fame, one...
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Setting as CharacterThis is a piece I wrote shortly after joining the rotation here at Sleuthsayers, just about a decade ago. Reposting at the request of an...
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Moms Get Mad (and Get Lawyers)Back in February, I wrote a piece about publishers cleaning up writers who’d fallen out of fashion, or more to the point, whose work would sound...
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In Search of the New NormalStacy Woodson, Michael, and David Dean at the Ellery Queen’s Readers Award presentation. (Photo by Ché Ryback) During the past...
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Writing is thinking.My wife said to me around the time we first met, “Writing is thinking.” That’s an excellent notion, I thought at the time, though...
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The Mound BuildersWednesday, Rob wrote about Neolithic graves in Europe . We hear about burial mounds, bogs, and even buried boats, mostly in the British Isles,...
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Pay to Play?--A New Look at an Old QuestionToday's column, like many of my SleuthSayers posts lately, was triggered by something I happened to see online--in this case a...
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The tomatoes stink, but you should really try the piePhoto by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Back in May 2021, I shared some memories of my mother, and it...
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Little Shrimp on the Prairie - the Return!by Eve Fisher Stop the presses and start mixing up the cocktail sauce! Or maybe not yet. Once again, aquaculture company...
