by Lisa Black Whether you begin as a child or an adult, we learn more from playing with a group than just how to tell a treble clef from a bass. 1. We are not all playing the same notes, and we shouldn’t be. That would be a very boring song and a very boring story—and a very boring life if we...
DEAN KOONTZ GOES ROGUE!
by K.J. HoweDean Koontz When I ask friends who their favourite author is, many of them immediately respond Dean Koontz. Dean transcends genres with his innovative storytelling, delving deep into the heart of character, tugging at our emotions, and taking...
PROCRASTINATION AND WRITING: Maybe It’s Not Us, It’s Our Brains
by Jamie Freveletti What came first: the procrastination or the emotion?Our pet tortoise "Will"Sometimes my writing progress goes as slowly as my tortoise, Will. Or perhaps even slower, because when Will sees me coming with the lettuce he moves fairly fast. Last month I wrote a post about the...
YOU NEVER FAIL UNTIL YOU QUIT
by Karna Small BodmanI’ve always liked that quote in the title. I’ve seen it play out in my own writing life as well as in many others. Before I wrote my first thriller, Checkmate, I wrote two light-hearted novels and collected close to 50 rejections from various agents and editors. Disheartened...
THE REAL BOOK SPY’S MARCH 2020 ROGUE RECOMMENDATION IS…
by The Real Book SpyWho is Matt Drake? That, I suppose, depends on who you ask . . . but for my money, he’s the next big star of the thriller genre—and so is the author behind him, former Army Apache helicopter pilot turned novelist, Don Bentley. In my time covering thrillers, I’ve seen several...
BOOK MESSAGES – Don’t Send Out Yours in a Old Glass Bottle!
by K.J. HoweMany publishers are delving into marketing data to help sell books, and it seems like the old maxim, “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is being proven false. The latest studies show exactly what makes readers rocket through the book buying cycle—discovery, conversion,...
MARCH’S ROGUE RECOMMENDATION CLUE and the chance to win a free book!
CLUE: "This debut author is all good in the air and has a masters degree in creating writing."A quick recap for those of you scratching your heads. In May of 2019, Rogue Women Writers and The Real Book Spy formed a lethal alliance dedicated to bringing you a...
THE TOP FIVE MOST STUPID TV COMMERCIALS
One of the Rogues all-time favorite, most popular, most controversial blogs went live a year ago – Robin Burcell's take on today's TV commercials. It made us nod our heads, or disagree, but always laugh. The blog seems particularly relevant now that so many...
WRITER NEEDS HELP! What are your favorite sugar cereals?
Vintage Advertisement, as in really OLDby Gayle LyndsWant to help a writer? Name your favorite cereal! I know that sounds silly, but cereal is one of the “telling details” we writers use to give our readers a vivid feeling of character.For instance, if I create a scene in which two grown men are...
INTERESTING THINGS YOU CAN LEARN FROM BATHROOM READING
by Chris Goff I love Reader’s Digest. I got hooked on it at a very young age. The articles are short, often reprinted collections of articles from other places. Packed full of information, entries range from bullet point articles, to Drama’s in Real Life, to joke sections, to...