A writer’s life is not all words on a page. A working writer finds herself doing an extraordinary number of odd jobs, such as the day I spent tracking down the identity of an insect the publisher intended to use as the illustration for a new edition of Beekeeper’s Apprentice: No, I said firmly, that…
Read MoreI promised yesterday that I would post today on the question of Independent Booksellers and their relationship with eBooks, and here we are. Yes, Indies sell eBooks, more and more Indies all the time. They (and I, frankly) have too long been frustrated by watching their customers browse the shelves, stand reading a book for…
Read More(Because this post has become a bit longer than I’d intended, I’ll divide it in half, with the first part All About Laurie, and the more important bit tomorrow.) Twice a year, publishers send their authors a royalty statement (and, with luck, a check to go with it.) These are daunting documents, page after page…
Read MoreBy the time I sent off the copyedit of Garment of Shadows the first week of January, my brain was empty of words. In the last year, I’ve written short stories and introductions, guest blogs, essays, & silly stuff to do with the Pirate King publication, my half of The Arvon Book of Crime Writing,…
Read MoreYou know you’ve been doing too many events with a writer when:
Read MoreI’m in New York, for the annual festivities of the Baker Street Irregulars, that wild-and-crazy bunch of Sherlockians (it began as a drinking society, after all) that inexplicably welcomed me to its (mostly) manly bosom a couple of years ago. Tonight begins with a distinguished speaker’s lecture, to get things off in the properly academic…
Read More2011 has been a busy year. A ridiculously busy year. A year so nuts, it has forced me to declare 2012 The Year of No. Meaning that if you’re about to ask me to write a short story, participate in a seminar, or show up at your festival, I can only say that if you’re…
Read MoreFor the past year, I’ve been working with Michelle Spring on a book about writing for the Arvon writing foundation. The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing will be published in 2012, both in the UK and US markets. And I can say that with assuredness because I have just this morning hit the SEND…
Read MoreThe anthology A Study in Sherlock is getting a lot of, er, buzz, with puns flying as newspapermen work their literary magic on reviews. There are several upcoming group events, including tonight in the San Francisco library, then the 19th in Scottsdale, the 20th in Los Angeles, and December 3rd in Redondo Beach. Various of…
Read MoreThe complete text of the Twitter Inteview between Les Klinger and Mary Russell has been posted on Miss Russell’s home page. Interestingly enough, the publishers also managed to get it between the covers of A Study in Sherlock, with extraordinary quickness. And if you scroll down a post. you’ll see Charles Todd’s reflections on Holmes’…
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