Print book sales are up across nearly all formats and age groups. In some cases, the percent of increase is double digits. While juvenile non-fiction sales increased the most (can you say, “home schooling?”), juvenile fiction, YA and adult fiction and non-fiction book sales have also gone up by substantial amounts. While there is a…
A friend of mine says he hasn’t written hardly anything since the pandemic hit. He’s always written in coffee shops. Now that he’s stuck at home, the words don’t flow. He says it’s too quiet at home. Or maybe it’s simply that home is not his writing home. My writing home is my office. Which…
I recently read Sue Miller’s new novel, Monogamy. (A good book. It haunted me for several days, as a compelling novel does.) In the foreword she says the book took six years to write. She thanks the many people who supported her and helped her through that time period. Then she thanks her characters for…
When I tell people I’m a writer, they are often impressed I can put the words together to write a whole book. Or, amazed I can create characters and come up with plots. But they don’t realize how brave I am. How bold and daring. Because that is a huge part of being a writer….
Back in 1999, when author Stephen King was severely injured in a pedestrian/vehicle accident, a young man at the library where I work commented, “Maybe now he’ll have to stay at his desk and write books faster”. Not only did I find his comment incredibly insensitive, I also found it naïve. Just because King didn’t…