We’re bigger movie-watchers in my house than TV-watchers. This is not generally a problem for us, except when we realize that we’re completely clueless about something that everyone else is buzzing about. A Superbowl commercial, for instance, or The Office. To this day, I have never heard Paris Hilton’s voice. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, but it’s kind of odd, given the hysteria about her a few years…
I was recently on a panel at the South Carolina Book Festival where our topic was “Great Summer Reads.” At the outset, I mused that there is no corollary to the summer read. No one ever says, “Hey! This’ll make a great winter read!” I think this is all due to the way we set up our educational system. Because we grew up with summers off from school, those months…
I’m so torn about the process of turning books into movies. As a former teacher, movies of books were both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because the films sometimes held interesting interpretations of the books, or really brought the characters to life in a way that resonated with how we had seen them as we read. They were a treasure trove of conversation points as we compared the…
When I give presentations, I talk about the act of writing a novel as analogous to dragging a magnet across a table full of paper clips. (Why you would want to do such a thing, I don’t know, but just go with it.) By the time you’re done, you’ve got a bunch of paper clips stuck to your magnet, and that’s your novel. For The Weird Sisters, one of the…
When I saw that the topic for this week’s post was goals, I had only one thing on my mind – I must get Skinny Emmie to do a guest post for us! Emily Sandford is the blogger behind Skinny Emmie, the weight-loss blog of a thirty-year old Biggest Loser reject who has lost over 112 pounds on the journey for a healthy and happy life. By day, she is…
My favorite time to write? That’s simple. I like to write when things are going well. When the words are flowing, when my characters are either doing what I want them to, or coming up with their own ideas that don’t make things too difficult. When I understand what I’m trying to say and describing it exactly the way I feel about it in my head. I’d imagine it’s pretty…
One of the best parts of social media is all the connections I’ve made with other writers and authors. So to that end, I thought instead of giving you my own advice (which is worth slightly less than two cents in today’s currency), I thought I’d ask some of my favorite writers what their advice is. One-Sentence (and sometimes more!) Writing Advice “Aspiring writers don’t aspire — they write.” –J.C….
Hey, Deb Ball readers! It’s Tuesday, my regular day to post, but it’s also a big day for a dear friend of mine. Kelly O’Connor McNees is the author of a lovely novel, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, which, like The Weird Sisters, is published by Amy Einhorn Books. Today her book comes out in paperback with a gorgeous new cover. Kelly was one of the first people…
What you’ll love about Deb Sarah’s The Violets of March! The Setting – Bainbridge Island, Washington. Even if you’ve never been to Bainbridge Island (confession – neither have I!) you’ll feel like you have after reading this book. The ferries, the chilly coastline, the seafood restaurants, the houses…they all feel beautifully real in Sarah’s book! The Mystery – who are Esther and Elliott? When Emily finds the diary in her…
I’ve been to a lot of author readings, and without fail, someone will ask some form of this question: “Is your book autobiographical?” I’m not sure why people tend to assume that all fiction is autobiographical, but on the other hand, I think it often is, at least to some extent. Writers write about things that interest them, and many of us are inspired by what we see in our…
