Earlier this summer, I had to write an obituary for one of my oldest and closest friends. The task was made even tougher because of our falling out during her final years of life. Sadly, her decision more than a decade ago to crawl into a bottle rather than wrestle...
Jeff Hutcheson was closing in on the end of the third novel in his Lost Key cozy mystery series. “I might want to think about doing a little marketing,” he told me. “A discount book promotion followed by Amazon and/or Facebook ads is a great idea!” my...
I’m not a runner, but I know a thing or ten about marathons since I write books. While the occasional sprint is not out of the question, too hard and too fast usually leads to collapse before the finish line or right after if you do make it to the tape. Coming in...
Is fear impeding your writing? As this dog-inspired writing lesson is about to show you, it sure doesn't have to. My friend Deborah and I had just pulled up to one of the lakes on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway outside of Bend. At the time, I had three pups with a...
My friend and client, Jane Hiatt, is just finishing up a book about hypnosis and trauma called Deep Medicine for Trauma: 5 Powerful Treatments for Healing That Experts Have Overlooked, based on her years of working in that arena. The stories of people coming to terms...
As I sat outside being pelted with white petals and yellow petal clusters, I realized that from nature to day-to-day life, the unexpected commands our attention. My backyard looks like a lush little oasis bordered by lava rock that’s as tall as my house and a couple...
As clients finish their books and move from writing and editing to thinking about self-publishing and book promotion, the question of whether they need a website usually comes up. The answer is a decisive, “That depends.” If you’re playing around with a novel or a...
I often dread writing my blog posts. I tend to delay for weeks, and then write two to three months’ worth, wondering every time whether I really need to blog weekly. Then I remind myself that the fresh weekly content is one of the reasons my website still usually...
A lot of people have made a lot of money writing about the elements of a good novel. Even more people have spent a lot of money buying those books, looking for a plug-and-play formula. Unfortunately, that's inevitably going to lead you away from writing a novel that...
Last Monday was the birthday of my dad, Leonard Gross. He would have been 97. When he turned 87, his book, The Last Jews in Berlin, which had recently been republished by Open Road Media, became a bestseller. He died two days later, and we didn't get the news about...
