Book View Cafe

Working Collaboratively: Writers’ Critique Groups

Collaborative relationships in writing come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You might have a writing partner that you work collaboratively with, as I

New Writers Ask: Can’t Craft Be Learned?

Can’t craft be learned? I’ve had a number of writers I’ve mentored or critiqued ask me some form of this question. Sometimes it’s a plaintive

A Story’s Genesis: The Wind’s Kiss

The headstone — as you can see in the photograph I’ve included here — stood alone, at least thirty paces from any other marker in

New Writers Ask: What Counts as Action?

Back when my full time day job was ghostwriting and editing, I’d sometimes get clients who wanted to learn craft and who were intensely concerned

A Cautionary Tale for Aspiring Writers (I Review an Anonymous Book)

A while back I read a book that made the editor in me rear up and tear her hair out. This is a book I

Lessons learned from KC winning the Super Bowl

This is it, my first blog for Book View Café. I’m excited to be here. I live in St. Louis, and sadly none our teams

Writers, Truthers & the Big Question

I commented in the first segment of this series about the similar thought patterns and behaviors shared by some inexperienced writers and conspiracy theorists (or

The Mathematics of Writing: One Picture = 1000 Words

One picture is worth a thousand words. This is a commonly held aphorism. In the life of a writer this is a real-world formula. Often

Confessions of a Ghost (Writer): When to Hold an Exorcism (Rocky 2)

I recently had to exorcise, er, fire a client. One I’d been working with for years. I have written three complete novels for this fellow,

Favorite Characters

As an author of historical fiction, I’m often asked who my favorite character is. Particularly, I’m asked about the fictional characters, because the historical figures