Summer Sayonara

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done. This week: When the Season Shuts Down. Continue reading “Summer Sayonara”

When James Patterson Is Your Co-Author

It’s News Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done. This week: Lunch with Andrew Gross, author of The One Man (no, it’s not about James Patterson.)

As bestselling author, Andrew Gross tells it, he was sitting in his den, after double-digit rejections of his first novel by agents and publishers, and wondering “what cliff to drive our SUV off” when his phone rang and the voice on the other end asked him if he would take a call from James Patterson. Continue reading “When James Patterson Is Your Co-Author”

Location! Location! Location! (Behind the Scenes#6)

 

View across Long Island Sound from the bluffs at Horton Point Lighthouse

It’s News Squib Saturday, but I’m going Behind the Scenes today because Book3 is very much on my mind. Thank goodness, I am getting back on track after a few disconcerting weeks which I wrote about a couple of Saturdays ago. Looking over some photos I took last year when I was researching locations reminded me of the work I’ve already done on the book.

It also helped to have a bit of a nudge from bestselling author James Patterson. He delivers a MasterClass (a series of 22 instructional videos) which any aspiring author or even a well-established author can download for a mere $90. The class looks at all aspects of writing a bestseller including how to find ideas, how to plot, write outlines and so on.

One of the tutorials focuses on researching locations like I did one day last Summer on the North Fork of Long Island. Part of Book3 takes place on the North Fork which is more secluded and remote (so far) and more rugged than the South Fork (better known as the Hamptons.) As Patterson says, ” It’s really useful to walk around a location and make notes about whatever catches your eye.” Continue reading “Location! Location! Location! (Behind the Scenes#6)”

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit with The Palm Beach Writers Group

It’s News Squib Saturday — but instead of posting News Squib#14, I’m taking a break from the news (both real and fake) this week to share some highlights and tips from writers with whom I got together last night at the Leopard Lounge, in The Chesterfield, a historic landmark in Palm Beach.

 

 

Swanky

The Leopard Lounge, once described by a Palm Beach Post reporter as the kind of  “dark and swanky” bar that “Don Draper might have taken a paramour during Mad Men‘s first season,” was the location for a holiday gathering of some 35 writers and editors last night. The evening was organized by Cathy (Kat) Helowicz, (aka Hostess with the Mostest) and author of a children’s book,  On Grandpop’s Lap. She is in the middle of writing her first novel for adults, and told me she recently enrolled in author James Patterson’s MasterClass, a series of 22 video lessons on how to write a best-seller. Continue reading “Getting Into The Holiday Spirit with The Palm Beach Writers Group”