Category Archives: Writing

If you want accuracy, don’t read fiction.

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

One of the reader reviews of The Poisoned Pawn that popped up on Goodreads last week was really critical of my portrayal of Aboriginal people. The reader said that they were  stereotyped and cliched and that he’d worked with “our natives” … Continue reading →

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My chat with Will Ferguson

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

I interviewed Giller Prize winning author, Will Ferguson, a week or two ago for a new TV show I’ll be hosting on Rogers TV which is going to be called (surprise!) “Getting Published.”  One of the more interesting discussions we had concerned the … Continue reading →

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How to organize your manuscript.

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

I don’t outline my books first; I just write. And that can make it hard to keep track of what I’m doing. So I’ve developed a little trick I thought I’d share because it’s working out really well so far. … Continue reading →

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When it comes to dialogue, throw away that thesauraus.

Posted on March 21, 2013 by

I often get asked to read someone’s unpublished manuscript, or their published book, and I can’t get past the first few pages. Why? Often it’s because of all the dialogue tags. Those are pesky distractions that snag the smooth flow of prose. And the … Continue reading →

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Cathy Astolfo on Developing Background for your Novel

Posted on March 12, 2013 by

And now with all that frenzied blog tour stuff over, I can get back to thinking about the business and craft of writing. My pal, mystery author Cathy Astolfo, joins me today to guest blog about the research we have to do … Continue reading →

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Work-Life Balance

Posted on February 3, 2013 by

I’ve been thinking a lot about work-life balance lately. I have three books coming out this month: The Beggar’s Opera hits the US market in paperback in March; it will be released in Canada in the paperback version next week, … Continue reading →

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#6 – They sure airbrush those author photographs, don’t they?

Posted on January 24, 2013 by

In the last of six things not to say to an author, the final one is #6: Wow, they sure airbrush those author photographs, don’t they? After I was interviewed by CBC Radio about The Beggar’s Opera and how it … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published, Writing | Tagged | 4 Comments

#5 – What made you decide to be a writer?

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

In this penultimate post on the six things not to say to an author, number five is What made you decide to be a writer? This is one I get every time someone finds out I have a book published. … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Published, Writing | 3 Comments