
Dead Women Sometimes Cry in the Rain, And Baby Socks
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times---Never start a story with the weather.
Even Elmore Leonard kicked off his "Don't-do-it" list with a rule about using atmospheric conditions to open a story.
Never open a book with…

Writers, Name Your Poison
It was a new novel, the third in her latest series, and, as always, in the early stages of the process the seasoned author required a new notepad for jotting down ideas, thoughts, and research notes. So she flipped back the blue cardboard cover…

In the Midnight Hour: A Cup of Joe, Maggots, Memories, and Run-On Sentences
Working the first 240 minutes of the graveyard shift, when the crazies and criminals come out to play, and when many normal and sane folks allow alcohol and drugs to take over the part of the mind that controls mean and nasty, is a timeframe…




