A Virtual Appearance

I will be the guest this Sunday evening at THE WRITER'S CHATROOM from 7 to 9 pm East Coast Time. It's free and easy to get into to.

Oh yeah...did I mention some lucky chatroom participant will win a signed copy of THE CLEANER, but you have to be there to be eligible.

Hope to see you there!

The Art of Editing

We all know that a good editor is worth more than what they are probably being paid. Even if you are just doing rewrites, you know editing is a monumentally important part of the writing process, and you probably wrestle with whether you are doing a good job or not.

In the spirit of editing done well, I bring you THE AMATUER via YouTube. It's amazing. Be sure to read the credits at the end...specifically about his abilities:

Phil Hawley Does His Part for Starving Authors

It's been a couple months since Phil Hawley and I got together for coffee/dinner, something we've been trying to do at least once a month. But the last couple of months got away from each of us (Phil IS a busy doctor after all), so we weren't able to meet up until last Tuesday night.

I'm happy to report Phil is doing well and doing well for the world. After a leisurely talk outside at the famous Farmer's Market near CBS, I then forced him to take the three minute walk to the Barnes and Noble at The Grove shopping center next door. There I was again forced to used abusive (some might say almost torture-esque) techniques to convince him to pick up some of the latest books by friends of his and mine. And when I say pick up, I should note that Phil did attempt at first to walk out of the store without paying...shame, shame... A gently amount of guilt plus the sight of a large security guard roaming near the front door changed his mind.

Here's proof of his newest purchases:




(okay, the truth...Phil is the one who wanted to go to the bookstore. And while, yes, he did start to head for the door without paying, it was mainly because he missed the entrance to the check out line. I guess that's an age thing...)