A friend of mine is on a 1970s binge as he tries to finish a novel. It could be nostalgia. We’re both the same age and can remember seeing shows like Mannix and Cannon as young boys. The Rockford Files, however, looms larger in both our memories. We were preteens when it came out, so…
I attempted to write a second follow-up to Holland Bay this summer. It reached sixty thousand words when I realized it was falling apart. Now, the advice to neophyte writers is always, “Don’t give up. First drafts always suck. You’ll never get it done if you quit.” Years ago, one writer going through a serious…
National Novel Writing Month. Write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. Whoever thought this up knew how to throw a monkey-wrench into it. After all, the holiday season begins, at least in the US, on Thanksgiving. To those attempting their first novel, it sounds daunting. The problem with writing a novel without ever…