Becoming a Writer

. . . by Karna Small BodmanIs a writer "born" or "developed over time?" I don't have an answer for that - perhaps you do. What I do know is that there are several questions that authors invariably get on book tours. For example, "How long does it take you to write a book?" "Is your protagonist...

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WHAT’S IN THE NEWS? KIDNAPPING!

by K.J. HoweKidnapping has been in the news a great deal lately.  On Easter weekend, Abu Sayyaf terrorists had been planning a mass kidnapping at a vacationer resort, knowing it would be packed to capacity.  But safety forces were able to engage these kidnappers in a military battle, and...

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How a dead dog led to my writing career

 S. Lee Manning: So, provocative title, eh? But it’s true. A fictional dead dog is the reason I am writing spy novels today – or at least it’s how I got started.Like most writers, and especially my fellow Rogues, I spent my childhood wrapped up in novels. My mother taught me to read when I...

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AT MY MOTHER’S KITCHEN TABLE

Council Bluffs, Iowa, where I grew up.By Gayle Lynds.  We had no front porch with chairs for sitting when I was young, but we did have a kitchen table. Southern writers like Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner and Eudora Welty are famous for crediting their relatives with front-porch...

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THE EVER CHANGING MUSE

by Chris GoffView from my childhood home in EvergreenThe Dog Days of SummerThe summer I turned eight, I discovered the library, in a small stone house perched on the rocky hillside above the Episcopal Church, right at the bottom of our hill.Some HistoryThe original town library was founded in a...

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SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL

by Sonja StoneLeap and the net will appear. Or you'll plummet to your death. It could go either way.HOW HARD CAN IT BE? I started my first novel on a whim. My kids were in middle school, and a popular book series had just been made into film. All of my kid’s friends had already seen it. Girls...

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THE MASTERS: SPRINGTIME IN AUGUSTA, AND IN MY HEART

By Francine MathewsMy father had his first heart attack when he was forty-seven. The year after that, he had me.I was the last of eight children, six of whom--all girls--survived. After the heart attack, my dad's doctor told him he needed consistent and moderate exercise. This was the Sixties,...

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Writer? Musician? Follow Your Joy.

My son's bedroom wall with two of his many guitars. The framed photo is of Jimmy PageBy Jamie FrevelettiI was out last night late after a book signing with two friends, a writer and an avid reader, and we were discussing life, books, publishing and all of the things that friends discuss during an...

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An Author’s Inspiration

...by Karna Small BodmanMy great Rogue colleagues here have recently been writing about where they found inspiration for their novels -- some ideas came from a rich family heritage, some from particular authors, others were gleaned from unique travel and experiences -- or all of the...

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