What Do Your Characters Look Like? Have you ever seen a movie where the characters look nothing like what you thought they would from the book? It’s a little disappointing isn’t it? And it makes it more difficult for that character to win the audience over if they start out with a negative. The question…
Words Of Love What you do is far more important than what you say. It’s similar to the old show and tell rule. You can tell people all day long how scary facing a rattlesnake would be, but if you drop one down in front of them it takes on a whole new light. The…
Writing With Distractions I often read, with some degree of envy, about writers who are going off on a writing retreat. Leaving the world for a weekend or even a whole week, and taking their computer to a mountain hideaway, or a beach resort, or a cabin in the woods. “I just can’t focus at…
Decisions About Independent Publishing The best part about being an independent author is you get to make all the decisions yourself. Nobody tells you what to do. You decide on the story, the characters, pick your own book cover, hire your own editor, choose fonts, all of it. It’s a great, wonderful feeling. But there’s…
Animal Intelligence Depending on which list you look at, the order of intelligence for the different species usually looks something like this: 1. human 2. ape 3. dolphin 4. pig 5. elephant 6. octopus 7. dog 8. crow Most scientists agree on the first two, though I personally have doubts about the number one ranking…
Clarifying What We Mean—When is Midnight? I was doing a book promotion this week and communicating by email—always a dangerous thing. The people running the ad sent me this message: Hi Giacomo, I will be posting your book, Murder Has Consequences, as a bargain book on Wednesday, 7/17. Please leave you book on sale until…
Mistakes Show Up in Many Ways Imagine buying a new computer only to discover that the percentage key doesn’t work, or that five pixels on your screen aren’t working. Or how about a new refrigerator, and the first time you have guests over you discover the ice maker taps out after half an hour. (I’ve…
Thumbs Up I was reading a book the other night, and when I finished I went to write a review for it. I wondered, does this get a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down?” Since it was a damn good book I gave it a thumbs up. But did I do right? Whenever I see…
Memories of a Great Teacher I recently lost two of my favorite people in the whole world — my Aunt Margaret, who passed away a few weeks shy of her 91st birthday; and then Aunt Rose, who passed away a few months before her 97th. They were at the top of my list for a…
What Her Eyes Have Seen I lost My aunt rose a few weeks ago. Yes, that’s a sad thing, but the saddest thing was that she wasn’t just a dear aunt and wonderful person. What I lost was my own personal time machine, a magic mirror into the past. Aunt Rose was born in 1916….