Where Have All The Readers Gone?

     It doesn’t take a Cultural Anthropologist to figure out why readers are dropping like swatted flies. How many hours  a week do people spend binge watching TV shows or playing Candy-crush? Kids won’t, or can’t, peel their eyes away from their smart phones. Teens insist on sharing every boring moment of their lives

AUTHOR 2 AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Authors Mark Fine & Pamela Crane Reveal their Lives in Pursuit of the Art of Writing.

We’re airing our secrets in this author-on-author interview between me, Pamela Crane and Mark Fine, author of the critically-acclaimed novel “The Zebra Affaire.” Check it out here, and feel free to share it.

One Plus One = Ten

One Plus One = Ten! Some books, you just gotta love….especially if you’re drawn to quirky characters, and mismatched people thrown together in hopeless situations. Jo Jo Moyes’ latest bestseller, One Plus One has the characters, the weird coincidences and lots of twists and turns that make it an irresistible page turner. You’ll meet Ed

Writing stalled? Try this . . .

Your day has been derailed. You’re unmotivated. You’ve lost focus. You can’t concentrate. You would rather do the laundry, wash the car, or file your back taxes. Most writers have days when writing is near impossible. We have weeks when the stars refuse to align, forces conspire against us, and ideas that once seemed brilliant

A Passage from The Long Dance Home: “Intriguing Encounter”

http://www.siftingfocus.com Cecilia Rose, or Cece as called by her friends, ventured into town reluctantly. She had agreed to visit an old friend and now regretted it. After ten years in Los Angeles, her small, Northern California hometown made her uncomfortable and claustrophobic. She did not relish the prospect of running into people she used to

BACK WOODS JUSTICE

“That him?” I nodded. The man crumpled to the ground, bawling like a baby. My brother, Johnnie, leveled the rifle. “What d’ya want me to do?”

Book Review: Jack of Spies

Jack of Spies (from Soho Crime) is the first book in a new David Downing spy series. It follows Jack McColl, a luxury car representative and part-time spy, around the world in 1913, as he gathers useful military information for England…and sells an occasional vehicle. War with Germany is on the horizon, accompanied by often

Sex? I Can Do That.

“More sex,” he said. I was having coffee with an old friend, a publicist, who had offered advice on book promotion. I hadn’t expected “sex” to be on the agenda, but he was the expert, so I went with it. And he was, after all, doing me a favor. He even paid for my double-shot,

Book Look – The Invention of Wings

Having loved Sue Monk Kidd’s other books, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, I was excited to read her latest novel, The Invention of Wings. Based on the true story of Sarah Grimke, one of the best known abolitionists of the early 19th century, and her (fictional) friend and slave, Handful, Kidd’s

Why Writing at Home Won’t Work

You would think that working from home is a writer’s dream. Going into the “office” anytime of day, wearing pajamas or sweats or a costume, drinking your own favorite coffee, locating your workspace wherever you want, ideally in front of a picture window that looks over a forest thick with trees and birds and romping