Category Archives: Writing

5 Ways To Step Up Your Writing Game (That Have Nothing To Do With Plotting):

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By Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

If you’re looking for tips on how to craft the perfect red herring or outline your Act III climax… this isn’t that post.

This one’s for the working writers, the creatives who are trying to build a sustainable, inspired, and energized life while facing the blank page day after day.

Because here’s the truth: writing (of any kind), it’s about stamina. Curiosity. Habit. It’s about making space for your best work to show up.

Whether you’re just starting out or knee-deep in your 5th novel, these seven practices will help you keep your momentum, fuel your imagination, and stay connected to the pulse of great storytelling.

In this blog I’ll be referencing the crime genre a lot, because that’s where I spend a good deal of my time, but the principles apply to any writer, on any platform, in any genre.

Oh, and if you haven’t already grabbed my Crime Writer’s Forensic Toolkit (a freebie packed with real-world tips for writing authentic crime scenes), click here to get it now. You’ll thank yourself later.

Grab your iced coffee or a hot tea and let’s get inspired!

  1. Curiosity = Creative Fuel

Yes, you have permission to binge away. Read just one more chapter. Dive into that magazine that just arrived.
Not just permission, encouragement.

As writers, consuming content is part of the job. It’s our continuing education. Every article you read, every docuseries you stream, every podcast you devour, it’s sharpening your instincts. You’re training your brain to spot patterns, build tension, and recognize what makes a story compelling (or fall flat).

Here’s the thing: you don’t have to chase trends. I’m never “caught up” on what everyone else is watching or reading. And I don’t feel guilty about it. The goal isn’t to be current, it’s to stay curious. Let your gut guide your watchlist. If it makes you lean in, gasp out loud, or shout “I knew it!” at your screen, you’re in the right place.

Here’s what’s on my shelf (and screen) lately:
   Books: Confessions of A Mafia Contract Killer, Devil in the White City, Killer of Little Shepherds, Hearts of Darkness
   TV: Ozark (for its slow-burn dread), The Alienist (for historical grit), Angie Tribeca (because satire has its place), and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (yes, comedy counts, great crime writing lives in all genres) Government Cheese (satire, crime, and family dynamics)
Podcast: Small Town Murder – explicit and wildly irreverent, but impressively researched and often surprisingly poignant. (Disclaimer: Their views don’t reflect mine. But their prep work? Gold.)

Pro Tip: Don’t just consume for entertainment, consume with intention.
As you watch or listen, ask yourself:

  • What’s the central hook that reeled me in?
  • How do they build and sustain suspense?
  • What makes this villain work (or not)?
  • What emotional beats hit hardest, and why?
  • Why do I love this? Or, why don’t I?

This kind of intentional consumption turns passive viewing into active learning. You’ll find yourself absorbing rhythms, dialogue styles, pacing, and plot layering without even realizing it. That’s the magic of reading and watching like a writer.

Oh, and one more thing:
Don’t be afraid to return to your favorites. If a book or show impacted you once, revisit it. You’ll see new things through the lens of the writer you’ve become.

I’m currently rereading Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle. What a great writer-refresh.

Now go refill that watchlist or readlist… it’s research.

  1. 2. Create a “Commonplace” Box

Writers collect ideas like detectives collect clues.

A line from a podcast.
A clipping from a hometown newspaper.

An old book you discovered in an antique store.
A story about a missing person that hasn’t left your head in three years.
A real-life unsolved case that haunts me.
A quirky obituary line or an oddball police report that plants a seed for a scene.

These are the breadcrumbs that lead to your next big idea, if you know how to follow them.

That’s why I keep a “Commonplace Box”. In times past, people kept commonplace journals in which to write quotes, inspirations, and ideas. I do the same but with a one foot square fabric box.

It’s not fancy. It’s not digital. I bought it at Ikea and it sits on my bookshelf easily accessible so I can toss in ideas, scribblings, and articles waiting to become future novels.

I use a few other methods as well. Here’s how I keep my idea organized (well, writer-organized, anyway):

  • Print articles get dropped in my commonplace box, ripped from magazines, printed off websites, or scribbled on sticky notes.
  • Online articles get bookmarked in clearly labeled folders in my browser. I even tag them by topic: DNA, poisons, stalking cases, unusual M.O.s.
  • True crime books go straight to my bookshelf, often with a sticky note: “Use for future villain?” or “Plot twist on page 183!”
  • Weird facts or killer lines? They go in my writing journal or my voice memo app. Inspiration doesn’t always wait for a quiet desk.

Pro Tip: If you’re more visual, use Pinterest or Notion to create a digital version of your idea, whatever helps you access and remember the idea later. Out of sight = out of mind.

You don’t have to use everything you collect.
You probably won’t. Who cares? You can always throw it away later.

The act of collecting trains your brain to pay attention to what sticks. It’s your subconscious saying, This has legs. Don’t forget this. And when the day comes where you’re stuck on a scene, plot, or character motive, you open the box.

And boom: the idea’s already waiting for you.

  1. Take a Writer’s Retreat

Sometimes the only way to write… is to get away from your life.

Your dishes can’t guilt-trip you. Your laundry doesn’t need edits. And no one asks, “What’s for dinner?” when you’re on a writer’s retreat.

Now, before you picture some five-star yoga resort with a private chef and a view of the Amalfi Coast, pause. That’s not what I mean.

A retreat can be as simple as:

  • A cheap cabin on Airbnb
  • A borrowed guest room at your sister’s place
  • A hotel room in a place where you’ll be undistracted

The point isn’t where you go. It’s why you go.

Writer’s Retreat Rules (I learned these the hard way):

  • Set one clear, doable goal. Finish X amount of chapters. Outline a messy draft. Rework your villain’s backstory. Keep it focused.
  • Unplug. No email. No scrolling. No “just checking one thing.” (You’ll lose an hour. Minimum.) Silence your phone.
  • Set A Timer. I recommend NOT using your phone as a timer because the temptation is too great to click onto emails, texts, and the web. Get a stand alone time and work in 30 or 60 minutes increments. Then break for 10.
  • Feed yourself. Pack snacks. Don’t forget real meals. You can’t write well on caffeine and adrenaline alone, trust me.
  • Leave with a win. It doesn’t have to be huge. But make sure you walk away with something solid, something done.

This practice is especially powerful if you’re starting a new story (hello, fresh slate) or finishing one you’ve been dragging your feet on (hello, accountability).

Even just one retreat day can shift your creative momentum. And bonus: You get to feel like a “real writer,” even if it’s just you, a hotel balcony, and an outline scribbled on hotel stationery.

So give yourself permission to get away and get it done.

4
Use Your Lifelines

Writers get stuck. It’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong, it’s a sign you’re doing the work.

Plot snags, flat dialogue, timelines that won’t math… welcome to the job.

The difference between writers who stay stuck and those who break through?
They don’t try to tough it out alone. They talk it out.

Use your lifelines.

That could be:

  • A fellow writer who knows your genre
  • A critique partner who will lovingly call out your lazy subplot
  • A real-life expert who’s been there, done that

When I get tripped up on a forensic detail, I don’t waste hours spiraling through conflicting Google results. I pick up the phone and call an expert. I’ve called coroners, detectives, trauma surgeons, forensic anthropologists, morticians, martial arts experts, trauma therapists, behaviour specialists. And the list goes on.

These professionals don’t just help me get it right.
They help me make it real.

Because lived experience can’t be found on page one of a wiki search result.

And here’s the thing: Most experts are generous with their knowledge, especially when they know you’re writing fiction and want to honor the truth of their work. (Be polite. Be clear. Be curious. It goes a long way.)

So the next time you’re staring down a story problem, ask yourself:

“Who would already know this?”

  “Who can help me?”

Then call them. Message them. Ask for 10 minutes of their brain.
That one conversation might unlock the entire scene, or even spark a better one.

Writing story is a solo act. But great storytelling? That takes a team.

  1. Read Outside the Headlines

If you want to write stories that surprise your readers, you need to surprise yourself first. That means digging deeper than top headlines and trending topics.

Some of the best crime story seeds come from unexpected places, those tucked-away publications that make you stop mid-sentence and say, Wait… what?

Here are a few of my secret weapons:

🗞️ Hometown Newspapers

Tiny towns. Big drama.
These papers are gold mines of quirky, bizarre, and sometimes tragic stories that never make national news. Family feuds. Long-lost fugitives. Mystery inheritances.
My hometown still publishes a weekly newspaper called The Fremont Times Indicator. And I still read it regularly. More than once, a clipped article has become the spark behind a subplot or a short story.

Emailed Newsletters

Like most of us, I receive a regular slew of emailed newsletters. I don’t read every word every time they arrive in my inbox. But I do scan them for anything that might pique my curiosity.

And I read widely. Here’s a smattering of the scope of what I’m subscribed to: The Angeles (Catholic news from LA), The Epoch Times, The Science & Entertainment Exchange, Back Country Containers (how to build container homes), The Michigan Enjoyer, The SoCal Mystery Writers of America, Alliance Francaise, Ada Lovelace Society, Hollywood Prayer Network.

You get the picture. You never know where you’ll find your next great idea. So fill that email box with free newsletters! You can always delete.

📰 Regional Magazines

Three of my favorites: Texas Monthly, Arizona Highways, and American Essence.
They both consistently feature deeply researched, character-driven crime stories that aren’t just about the what, but the why and the how. You get nuance. Motive. Community context. The stuff that elevates your writing from formulaic to unforgettable.

🧬 ForensicMag.com

If you write anything involving forensic science, this one’s a must.
It’s my go-to for staying current on everything from new DNA analysis methods to digital evidence collection. Their daily newsletter hits my inbox with real cases and new tech, both of which have sparked scenes, character quirks, and even entire book plots.

Why does this matter?

Because originality is your edge.

Your audience has consumed a great deal of content. They haven’t seen the one inspired by a two-paragraph obituary from a paper no one else reads. Or a forensic breakthrough published in a journal that never trends.

These sources are where plot twists are born.
They’re where human stories live in all their flawed, fascinating glory.

So read beyond the algorithm. And let the weird and wonderful fuel your next great mystery.

Final Word

Are these revolutionary, earth-shattering strategies?
Probably not.

But here’s the truth: If you actually put them into practice, you’ll be miles ahead of the writers still white-knuckling their way through a manuscript and losing creative fuel.

Because sure, writing is a solo act.
But writers, we don’t have to struggle so hard.

So tell me, which one are you going to try this week?

And if you’ve got your own rituals, routines, or crime-writing hacks that keep you going…
Drop them in the comments. Let’s trade notes.

Jennifer Dornbush works as a screenwriter, author, speaker, and forensic specialist. She has developed film and TV projects, authored numerous books, and frequently speaks around the world on crime fiction and forensics. She divides her time between Michigan and Arizona. Jennifer can be found in the virtual world at www.jenniferdornbush.com and on IG @jgdornbush

Beware of Dog and Other Things to Remember

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Beware of Dog and Other Things to Remember
Terry Odell

black and white dog with its face poking out underneath a blue fence with peeling paint and a sign saying Beware of Dog

Image by Kev from Pixabay

People like dogs. Readers like dogs. So, when I was starting my current wip, without much conscious thought, this appeared in the first 400 words of the manuscript:

“Evvie snatched the envelope from Roger’s hand, wrestled the cart to the door, and not waiting for him to offer to help, pushed the cart—none too gently—against the door to open it. She maneuvered the cart, fighting the universally requisite out-of-alignment-wheel, down the sidewalk to her SUV. After arranging her photos on the towels she kept in the back for Baxter, not concerned about his sheds of black dog hair, she slammed the hatch. She left the cart next to the nearby red maple—let Roger come get it—and drove home.

As she entered the kitchen of her little house near downtown Colorado Springs, Baxter greeted her. Bouncing, shimmying, his stump of a tail wagging as if she’d been gone a month, not thirty minutes.”

Okay, so Evvie has a dog. Dog loving readers will connect.

Then what? First, this isn’t a cozy, and these dogs don’t talk or have a POV role. The book is a romantic suspense, which means it’ll fall into the romance category. That means a hero. And they have to meet. Per reader expectations, very soon. Being a good dog parent, Evvie takes Baxter for a walk, and they end up at the neighborhood dog park. Enter the expected hero. With his dog, a golden retriever named Sammy.

All should be good. Hero and heroine have a connection. Their dogs. Although they’re not in a relationship at this point (Chapter 2), the hero has a dog, he likes dogs, and that scores points with Evvie.

Now, here’s the problem. It’s a romantic suspense, which means Bad Stuff Has to Happen. Whether they’re working independently or together, if they go anywhere, they (meaning me) can’t forget about the dog.

I’ve read books where a dog was introduced, and then hardly shows up on the page again. This is unacceptable. You put a living, breathing being on the page, and it has needs. Food. Water. Walks. And you have to take this into account in Every Single Scene. How much time has elapsed since the last scene? Where were the dogs?

In my writing, I try to keep time moving forward in real time, more or less. If I jump ahead, I make sure that’s noted. Here, I give readers credit for assuming that if it’s much later in the day, or the next day, or three days later, that the characters have gone about the normal day-to-day events, and that the dogs have as well.

Now, if I’m with my characters, then all those normal day-to-day events need to be covered somehow. Not a minute-by-minute, but at least a mention to readers can keep track of elapsed time. “After lunch” is good enough unless something important happens that moves the plot forward.

Since my characters are in the ‘getting to know each other’ stage, they need to be together. I don’t know about you, but back in my day, that was usually along the lines of dinner and a movie. Movies don’t make for good page time, but as long as some plot advancing happens, I have no trouble showing them in an eatery, where they’ll interact with servers—because how else will their food appear?—ordering, eating, etc., along with discussing those plot advancing topics.

But now I have to remember that they’ve got dogs at home. Did I skip the time where they were tending to them? It’s okay to tell rather than show everything—“After feeding and walking the dog…” but you put them on the page, so you can’t neglect them.

Likewise, if your characters have children, or are caring for an elderly parent, you can’t pop them in and out when you think of it. They’re part of the story and can’t be neglected.

JSB talks about the shadow story to keep track of other characters, especially the villain. Most of my books don’t have the kind of villains that more traditional “murder mysteries” have, so any tracking of bad guys tends to be minimal for me. However, secondary characters both human and otherwise, require tracking.

So, when the Real Trouble starts and my characters have to leave town in a hurry, they (meaning me) have dogs to deal with. Kennel them? Do they have dog sitters? Or do the dogs have to come along?

A sticky note on my computer saying “Don’t forget the dogs!” is the equivalent of my dog coming into my office and staring at me when one of her daily routine boxes needs to be checked.

(Side note, along similar lines. If you say a character needs to pee, I want to see that they’ve had a chance to hit a restroom. I’ve seen authors ignore this step, too. Drives me nuts.)

Basic “rule.” If you mention anything, it becomes a thread that has to be followed. Don’t leave readers hanging. Or thinking your characters are less than likeable because they’re not taking care of the dogs (or people) they’re responsible for.

What about you, TKZers? Do you avoid pets because of the complications they throw into the work? If your characters have pets (or other humans they’re responsible for), how do you deal with the requisite “care and feeding”?

Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

The ABCs of Avoiding Scams

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by Debbie Burke

Seductive scammers have long targeted authors but, in the past few years, AI tools like Chat GPT, Claude, and Gemini scaled fraudsters’ abilities to reach millions more potential victims. Additionally, they constantly refine their techniques with fresh scam variations and new twists to con authors out of money.

Here’s a list of ABCs to help identify fraudsters:

Address: first, check the sender’s email address. If it’s from gmail.com or other free mail services, it’s likely a scam.

Real marketing companies, publishers, podcasters, etc. use their own domain names, not generic free emails. A genuine contact from a publisher is usually editorsname@publishingcompany.com or agentsname@literaryagency.com.

One scary aspect of AI is that it’s constantly learning and improving techniques. When it discovers that authors recognize gmail.com as a likely fake, it manipulates addresses to appear legitimate.

While writing this post, I received an email supposedly from Mary Altman, Associate Editorial Director at Sourcebooks. There really is a Mary Altman at Sourcebooks but this email wasn’t from her.

The bogus address was sourcebooks@mary-altman.com.

A real email from Sourcebooks would more likely be “maryaltman@sourcebooks.com”

While we’re on A…

Approaches: Scammers approach writers in various ways. Some are outright phony. Others are of questionable value and don’t justify their high costs. Here are a few approaches they offer:

Increase book reviews – yes, everyone needs more reviews but paying for them is risky. That  violates Amazon’s terms and may result in banishment. Amazon removes your book from the sale and prevents you from publishing future work.

Book visibility or discoverability assessment – lofty but vague assurances that they’ll find more readers who will see and buy your book.

Marketing maximization – better positioning on Amazon and other sales outlets, using key words and phrases.

Impersonation of actual editor, agent, well-known author, podcast producer, film director or producer. (see example above about Sourcebooks impersonator).

Book club invitations – the book club is often fake and nonexistent. Or it may be legitimate, but the scammer is falsely using their name and will ask for “donations” to cover expenses. No real book club charges authors.

Blue sky: did the contact come out of the blue sky? Assume it’s a scam.

When an email starts: “I ran across your book…”, “Your book came to my attention…”, or similar phrasing, an AI bot wrote it. Real publishing professionals don’t have time to browse through Amazon or Goodreads book listings, just shopping for the next bestseller.

Also, real publishers don’t offer to republish a book that’s already been published.

Did a famous author or celebrity contact you? 99% chance it’s an impersonator. They claim they want to engage in meaningful dialogue about the writing journey. If you answer, after a couple of exchanges, they’ll do you a special favor and hook you up with their favorite developmental editor or marketing specialist. That’s when the request for money happens.

Always beware of out of the blue contacts.

Compliments: Is the email filled with effusive compliments about your book?

Praise is a powerful aphrodisiac. We all want to hear that someone loves our work.

Scammers use psychological manipulation to their advantage. The more complimentary adjectives and adverbs they pack into the text, the more the writer basks in the warm glow of recognition. Wow, someone finally appreciates my story that I poured my heart and soul into.

Phrases like the following are tipoffs of a scam:  “deeply personal thought-provoking universal questions,” “penetrating insightful exploration of critical life issues and themes,” “emotional resonance that goes to the essence of human existence,” “lingered in my mind and deeply touched my heart long after I finished reading your book.”

Blah, blah, blah…

Due diligence: Check out the sender but DO NOT click on links they provide. Their links lead to phony testimonials or, worse, they may inject malware into your computer.

Do your own independent online investigation. Do they have a website or media presence? Probably little or none.

Always check with reliable trusted sources like:

Writer Beware – For decades, Victoria Strauss has been a tireless watchdog who monitors scams that target writers.

Authors Guild

Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)

Jane Friedman

 Engagement: Scammers want to keep you engaged with them. The longer they prolong conversations with you, the better the chance they’ll eventually persuade you to send them money.

The best practice is not to respond at all. If you reply, even to say “no thanks,” they know they have an active email address that they can then share or sell to others. Your inbox will receive more solicitations from other shady senders hoping to get money from you.

Feelings: It’s human nature to want to feel good. Scammers specialize in appealing to author’s emotions. They know which buttons to push to tap into our desires, hopes, and dreams. If their message causes your heart to swell with pride and makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over, they’re counting on your emotions to overcome caution.

Take a step back. Why are they contacting you? What do they want from you? Ask a friend or colleague to take an objective look.

Golden opportunity: Scammers make sweeping statements that imply if you use their services, your dreams can come true. Your book can be showcased at book fairs, festivals, fan events. Their offers sound like promises but upon closer analysis they are vague, generalized platitudes. They’re selling sizzle but there’s no steak.

Recently, a colleague related her close call with impersonators that claimed to represent a writing festival. She paid them $200 by credit card. Then she learned it was a fraud. Fortunately, the credit card company reversed the charge. If she had paid by Zelle, gift card, or wire transfer, she wouldn’t have been able to recover the money.

How: Writers often say, “They must have read my book. How else would they know the characters’ names, their secrets, and plot twists? How else do they know my favorite hobby is [fill in the blank]? How else do they know the inspiration for my book is [fill in the blank]?”

How do they know? AI bots vacuum every detail about you from the book sales page, reviews, social media posts, author website, and other info easily available on the net. They collect data then spin it into a compelling web of flattery, emotional hot buttons, and urgency to convince you to act now to obtain the recognition your talent so richly deserves.

They personalize and custom-tailor solicitations that sound as if they truly know and care about you and your work. The scary part is they can do all that in seconds.

 

Bottom line, they only care about how they can make your money disappear. 

Invitations: Do you want to be interviewed on a podcast? Be the honored guest at a book club? Have your book selected for a curated list of influential titles? These gracious invitations sound like dreams come true.

Not long ago, I received an intriguing email that opened:

“Dear Debbie,

I want to be direct with you because I believe your time deserves that respect.”‘

Okay, that got my attention. It goes on:

“I did not come across your work through an algorithm or a mass submission list. Our curation committee has been conducting a deliberate and rigorous search for voices that our community of readers would not simply enjoy but would genuinely champion, and The Villain’s Journey stopped us in our tracks for one reason above all others. The question you have placed at the very foundation of this guide, whether someone is born bad or learns to become bad, is not simply a craft question for writers. It is one of the oldest and most searingly unresolved questions in human understanding, and the fact that you have built an entire framework for creating compelling antagonists around that tension gives this book a philosophical depth that most writing craft guides never come close to achieving.”

Now I’m suspicious but still curious because Linda anticipated my likely resistance to her pitch and attempted to overcome it. 

“My name is Linda Hole. I am a long standing and active member of The Perks of Being a Book Addict, one of Goodreads most engaged reading communities with over 37,000 passionate members worldwide. I currently serve as Selection Committee Chair, a role built specifically to identify authors whose work deserves sustained, meaningful attention from a deeply invested reader community. We are not a promotional platform.”

When I checked, I found there is indeed a Goodreads subgroup with that name with 37,000 followers. But when I scrolled down their page a ways, a message read: “We DO NOT contact authors via email and do not offer book promotion in exchange for money! (Every such attempt is a scam!)”

Suspicions confirmed but I kept reading because of a fresh angle I hadn’t seen before:

“We are currently finalising our 2026 Year of Impact project, a highly selective 12 month Managed Reader Experience through which we champion a cohort of just 15 authors across our full community infrastructure. Our focus is entirely on building genuine lasting readership rather than surface level visibility, and as we are now in mid May we are closing out our final Official Selections before the cycle launches.We believe your voice belongs in this conversation and we would be honoured to explore whether one of our remaining Residency spots is the right fit for you. If you are open to learning more, I would welcome the opportunity to walk you through exactly what this experience looks like for your title specifically.”

Wow, they’re offering me a residency. And they use British spelling. I should be honored to attract the attention of this prestigious organization.

I wasn’t and I didn’t respond.

A couple days later, Linda reached out again:

“I wanted to gently check in as I have not yet heard back from you since my last message. I understand you may be busy or still considering the opportunity.”

Uh no, Linda, you haven’t heard back because I don’t respond to scammers.

Now she applies pressure with the urgent deadline:

“That said, our final selections for the 2026 Year of Impact project are closing this month, and I would hate for your work to miss the window simply because we did not connect at the right time.
If you are still open to learning more, I would be glad to send over our Official Selection Overview Document so you can see exactly what the residency involves.”

I still didn’t respond. Gee, aren’t I rude?

Linda tried one last gentle nudge then gave up.

This solicitation interested me because the tone was more sophisticated and targeted than previous scam emails. It indicated that AI bots are constantly learning and refining their approaches.

That’s why authors must stay alert to new tricks to defend themselves from increasingly convincing and seductive scams.

However, some fraudsters may have outsmarted themselves. Next post, we’ll look at ways to turn the tables on scammers and use their words to our own advantage.

Stay tuned…

 

TKZers: How many scam emails do you receive per week? Answer in the comments. The highest score receives the coveted “Overflowing Trash Bin Award.”

 

 

 

~~~

The Villain’s Journey stopped Linda Hole in her tracks. To find out if my book  addresses “the oldest and most searingly unresolved questions in human understanding,” click on this link. 

Jack Woodford on Writing For Money

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

Jack Woodford (1894–1971)

In the golden age of the pulps there was a writer named Jack Woodford, who also wrote how-to books for writers. What’s refreshing about these is his no-hold-barred advice that eschews all flowery paeans on the romance of being a writer. He gets down to it in a book titled, appropriately, How to Write for Money (1944):

So there you are. A free-lance writer! Oh pitiable wretch! Oh miserable fool! Of all the business you could have gone into—operating a movie theatre, or making guns, running a drug store or learning how to be a tailor or a plumber, a typographer or a hot dog cook—you insist on going into the business of cash-and-carry prose. Well, you know best. As for me, I know there isn’t a so-and-so thing I can do to discourage you or make you change your mind. I admit (reluctantly) I’ve made a pretty good thing out of it myself. But I’ve had some breaks….Can you be sure of getting breaks? Of course you can’t. That’s what a break means—a stroke of luck that nobody expects, all pine for madly, and mighty few ever get. Where would I have been without my breaks? God knows. I don’t!

Do you feel like a “pitiable wretch” sometimes? Welcome to the club called Every Writer. We meet at the bar.

Writing is the most hazardous profession of which I know. It usually carries with it far less rewards than most people think, much more work, and very little satisfaction; since you cannot, ever, say what you really think about anything. Many writers appear to do so but they are always restricted one way or another behind the scenes. The rewards of writing, however, are worth it for those temperamentally suited to such rewards. The freedom it brings from alarm clocks, for instance, is, in itself, not an inconsiderable item; and from time clocks, and other devices of torture invented by people who hold stock in things and milk other people of their labor at usurious rates.

That is a lure, of course. If this gig gets big, you don’t have to “work for the man,” as they used to say. Better, though, to think of your writing as one little stream of income, a side hustle, that may or may not grow into a river. But a trickle is better than nothing at all if you love to write (and you should love it…most of the time, at least).

Woodford, writing in the middle of World War II, offers a military illustration:

In Boot Camp, tough sergeants deliberately try to break the morale of inducted men. Those who break they send back to civilian life, or to some more or less ignominious chore in army life. There are two or three hundred thousand “writers” who “write at” writing in this country. Ninety percent of them make next to nothing. The few who do get by are those who were not “broken” in the “Boot Camp” of their own wills, or lack of same.

Knowing all that:

If you really want to be a writer it is my observation, from a quarter century of association with successful and unsuccessful writers, that the hinges of Hell cannot prevail against you.

In Writer’s Cramp (1953), Woodford quotes the novelist Robert Ruark, who was big at the time:

“To write a book is no simple thing. One needs paper, a typewriter, a certain basic stupidity, and time. Also arrogance. Any bum who sits down and figures he has 300 book pages of importance is an arrogant ass. Nobody has that much to say worth saying. Neither Shakespeare nor Artie Shaw.”

Note: Artie Shaw was a famous big band leader, a clarinetist, who also had a fertile mind. In 1952 he published an autobiography titled The Trouble With Cinderella: An Outline of Identity, which is no doubt what Ruark is referring to.

Woodford’s most influential how-to was Trial and Error: A Key to the Secret of Writing and Selling (1940), cited by no less than Ray Bradbury and Raymond Chandler.

Be glad that it is hard. Wish that it were more difficult than it is; for this is your protection, when you have learned it, from too much competition. Only this I can promise you—that even though you have no gifts whatever ever for writing, no knack, education, knowledge, imagination; no common sense, intelligence, anything, you can still learn to write commercial fiction and sell it, if you have really made up your mind to do so. If you really are a downright simpleton, this very fact may make things easier for you in the free lance commercial fiction racket, for nine-tenths of all stories and novels are in America read by ninnies who may understand you far better if you are a kindred spirit.

You could not learn to write literature, whatever that is, by simply making up your mind to do it; no, not even if you had a will like Mussolini’s.

All I can give you here is a rough idea as to how to go about turning exposition into the various sorts of narrative writing.

Okay, you pitiable wretches, if Mr. Woodford were still around, what would you say to him?

Reader Friday: The World Was Our Ash Tray

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Over a glass of wine my octogenarian friend and I were discussing the habit of smoking and where people used to be able to smoke (back in the day). She is a former high school French teacher and remembered her high school students had a “smoking porch” where they could smoke on breaks. I remembered people smoking on airplanes. (Ew!) Where do you remember people smoking that seems SOOO off and odd to us today? And were you a smoker? Still? (No judgement!)

When Love Goes Wrong

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By Elaine Viets

Romance scams are the cruelest fraud. Scammers steal  your savings, self-respect, sanity, even your life. These scams are mainstay of Victorian novels – but now they have a modern twist, thanks to AI, dating apps, WhatsApp, and fake social media.

Consider Anne, a fifty-something French woman duped out of $855,000 by a Brad Pitt impersonator. Anne got a message from someone claiming to be Brad’s mother. Then “Brad” himself contacted her and they were online friends for more than a year. The fake Brad said he needed money for cancer treatment because his accounts were frozen, thanks to his split from Angelina Jolie. Anne also received photos of Brad in the hospital — AI-generated, of course.

The game was up when Anne saw real photos of Brad with his new love, Ines de Ramon. Ines, who belongs to a rich Swiss family, had more than enough bucks to take care of Brad.

What did Anne get for her kindness? When her story broke, she was ridiculed until she was hospitalized for mental health problems.

Stranger still was the senior citizen who fell in love with a fake Elon Musk. You read that right. The dark-haired, dashing Elon Musk.

The fake Elon sent her cheesy texts asking, “Hey baby, how are you? What are you doing tonight, baby?” The scammer used – what else? – AI for Elon’s voice, and stole $600,000. Why the richest man in the world needed what amounted to pocket change for him wasn’t clear, but he left that woman cold, stony broke.

Men are victims, too. A Las Vegas woman scammed at least four elderly men, drugged them, and helped herself to their savings and Social Security. At least one man disappeared.

Naturally, I had to add a romance scam to my new mystery, BEACH BLONDE BETRAYAL. In my second Florida Beach Mystery, someone is strangling young blonde women in the sun-splashed town of Peerless Point. One of the eccentric residents of Norah McCarthy’s apartment house, the Florodora, finds a body on the beach. The fear grows when a local restaurant owner is found stabbed on Norah’s doorstep. Norah has to unravel fatal secrets and deadly plots.

Including a romance scam that leads to murder.

Romance scammers have a real talent for figuring out who is vulnerable. These are ways to spot them.

Romance scammers can’t meet you in person. No matter how much Elon Musk hungers for your touch, he’ll never stop by your home. Ditto for love sick Brad Pitt. The scammer will have some reason they can’t visit. They work on an oil rig in the North Sea,  a research station in Antarctica or they’re in the military and deployed to Iran. Some romance scammers travel constantly for business, but never to your hometown.

Romance scammers are extremely shy. They’ll never make a video call. If they send you a photo, they will be good-looking. Too good looking to be true. Check out their photo in one of the reverse image search engines, such as Tineye, and you’ll discover the photo belongs to a model or a free photo service.

Scammers are extremely attentive. Their emails overflow with love and flattery. They’ll confess, “I’ve never felt this way before” or “I can’t live without you.” Romance scammers will say you are kind, beautiful and most of all, generous.

Especially generous . .  . Soon the scammers will have a little money problem. Nothing serious, mind you, but could they borrow 50 bucks until their paycheck arrives? And would you send it by Zelle? Smart scammers will  pay back that money right away. A short time later, they’ll have a real emergency: their sweet old  mother is dying. Or the scammer has been diagnosed with a terrible illness. They need your money. Of course, you send it. And keep sending it. Maybe you even sell your house.

If you question why they need so much money, romance scammers will ask: “Don’t you trust me? How can you say that when I love you so much?”

If these scammers don’t have a serious illness or a sick old mother, they often have beautiful dreams for a future together. They’ll send photos of a vacation house in Hawaii, Key Largo, or Costa Rica where the two of you can marry and live happily ever after. If you’ll just wire the six-figure down payment. And the money for airfare.

Some scammers want to make you rich. They have a hot investment opportunity. Usually in cryptocurrency. All you have to do is wire them the money.

Money is the key to romance scammers. In 2025 it’s estimated they’ve duped Americans out of $1.5 billion dollars. That’s billion with a B. As in be careful.

“With elegance and wit, Viets weaves each of these colorful subplots into an appealing tapestry. The result is a genial cozy that’s ideal for summer reading.” – Publishers Weekly on Beach Blonde Betrayal.  Preorder your copy here: https://tinyurl.com/bdhx3k66

 

 

 

 

 

Why You Should Write at the Car Wash

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A car between two giant spinning brushes and a car wash

A couple of days ago I went to the car wash. To pass the time, I brought a hard copy of my latest project, which I was hand editing. I was there for an hour and was insanely productive. With the comfortable chair and their rocking soundtrack that was a mix of classic country, 70s rock, and 90s alternative, it was a magical creative experience.

It reminded me of a story from a few years ago about novelist Amy Daws who cured her writer’s block by writing in the waiting room of her local tire store. She became the unofficial mascot of the store with her own reserved seat. And she wrote a book, Wait With Me, about a writer who likes to write in the waiting room of a tire store and finds love there.

My time at the car wash prompted a creative habit I had forgotten. I like writing with noise. . Keep a list of habits that work for you so when your life changes, you don’t forget. It’s also good to have creative habits in rotation. When you get tired of sitting at your desk, go to the car wash.

Sometimes when you are searching for inspiration, try changing location.

Have you ever wondered why so many people like to write at coffee shops? There is actually science behind it. There is a noise sweet spot between too loud to be distracting and just loud enough to help you focus. Having noise that your brain has to work to block out actually makes you more creative.

There’s even an app called Coffitivity that mimics the noise of a coffee shop. I used it when I had to write at an office job that was library level quiet.

Some people use music as their ambient noise. Lots of writers like to have playlists for each project that evoke the mood and the theme of the story they’re working on.

What is your favorite kind of noise to work with?

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Letter To My Pre-pubbed Self

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This morning I stared at the cursor blinking on my computer screen as I worked on my current manuscript. I’m at the point where that little voice is yelling, “What makes you think you can do this?” I yell back— “I know I can—I’ve done it nineteen times before.” But it’s not helping.

Dale’s post on Saturday encouraged me. While I haven’t lost my writing mojo, I’m tired.
The middle of a book is the hardest for me. They don’t call it the sagging middle for nothing. I know my characters, but they are rebelling on me, not going where I want them to. Of course, eventually I’ll listen to them—if I don’t, they’ll quit talking to me. As I cast my line into the possibilities, a thought hits me.

Did you really think it would be easy?

Before I was published, I doubt I ever gave a thought that this writing gig might be really hard. Back then, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I’m thinking about all the things I wished I’d known when I first started writing many years ago, so I decided to write unpublished-self a letter.

Dear Patricia,

You didn’t know it was going to take so long to get a book published, did you? Thirty years. Would you have kept writing if you had? Or would you have thrown up your hands and said that’s too long and too difficult? I know you were tempted a few times. What a shame it would have been.

Looking back, I can see a few places where you could have made the journey easier. Like if you had connected with other writers earlier, gotten into a critique group, or attended a few conferences. But I realize it wasn’t always an option. It is easier now, with the Internet to connect with other writers. And those self-imposed deadlines could have been a little tighter. That discipline would have really helped when the publisher’s deadlines started coming, like now.

But you did a few things right. Like taking classes, which you continue to do even now. And you finally were able to attend conferences where you met your agent…of course you didn’t realize it would take you five years to finish that manuscript she requested, but you finally did and she accepted you.

You kept learning the craft, so that when God opened the door for publication, you were ready to walk through it. Of course, you still had a lot to learn and each book has taught you something new. And as you write this book, you’ll learn something new again.

I want you to know that when you receive a publishing contract, everything changes. Oh, not the excitement about writing, but the realization that you have a responsibility now to turn in a clean manuscript on time—writing is no longer something you do when you have time. Now you must make time for it. Writing is a job; other people are depending on you to do what you say you’ll do. That means that when a friend calls and wants to do lunch, you won’t always be available. It won’t be easy, but then, I don’t suppose any goal is easy.

Thank you for sticking to it. It’s been a wonderful journey, even the pre-pub days. Keep writing and don’t give up.

Your older and wiser (hopefully) self
Patricia

Okay, TKZers, can you relate? If you’re published, what is something you would tell your pre-published self? Or what would you tell a new, struggling writer?

I’m having a medical procedure, so I may late responding to comments, but I’ll catch up!

 

Marketing, Algorithms, and Tropes

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Marketing, Algorithms, and Tropes

Terry Odell

Image by Inn from Pixabay

Marketing is, for most authors, a necessary evil. Even traditionally published authors are expected to share the burden of making their books visible, and with the thousands of books published to Amazon a day, this is a daunting task. Before I go any further, let me remind readers here that the best marketing effort is to write the next good book. That being said, it’s still a game of whack-a-mole trying to find the next best marketing tool.

How is your book discovered? It used to be readers went to their bookstore of choice and searched using keywords, the author’s name, genre, whatever. Now, it’s places like BookTok and other social media platforms that readers, especially younger ones, are gravitating to.

Even publishers are partnering with BookTok influencers to get the word out about their publications.

Word of mouth is still huge, but a lot of those mouths are digital. Book clubs on Discord, Goodreads lists, and Reddit threads are growing. Subscription services let readers find books without paying for individual titles.

Overall, there’s a split between algorithmic and social discovery, which is fast, and often viral, and the intentional, curated discovery, which is slower, more personal, and trust-based.

And what about those algorithms? Recently (no surprise), Amazon came up with a new one. Authors who had figured out how to ‘beat’ the system are having to start all over.

A recent podcast on Written Word Media summarized the changes as they relate to Amazon. Since Amazon doesn’t reveal how their algorithms work, they’ve done research to try to figure it out. Are they right? Is it foolproof? That remains to be seen.

First, optimization of your book product page is more important than previously. Keyword stuffing is out; natural language is in. Include tropes and subgenres in your description.

Next, focus on your A+ content. Make it longer and make your images match the genre and themes of your books. Getting readers to stay on the page as long as possible is a plus.

External traffic is more important than it used to be. Your ads, your social networks, newsletters—driving traffic to you page from non-Amazon sources also means more than it used to.

Finally, they mention consistent traffic. One day spikes of sales isn’t as effective as seeing increased sales over several days. Amazon isn’t updating rankings hourly anymore. It’s more like once a day.

Something mentioned in their advice is tropes.

Dictionary.com defines trope as “a recurring theme or motif, as in literature or art; a convention or device that establishes a predictable or stereotypical representation of a character, setting, or scenario in a creative work.”

Tropes make it easier for readers to find books they know they’ll like within their genre of choice. Ad graphics and memes are including tropes along with book images. Here’s a quick one I put together as an illustration.

Tropes are the new search terms. They are sharable shorthand. They build loyal, repeat buyers. They drive the long tail, not just launch work.

They’re not without risk, however. BookTok hypes aren’t substance driven. The hype is probably short-lived. You also have to be careful about making sure all aspects of your marketing reflect what’s actually in the book.

Bottom line: tropes work commercially because they reduce uncertainty for readers. In a market flooded with books, knowing a book contains your favorite trope functions like a quality signal — it tells you roughly how it will feel to read it. That reduces friction all the way from discovery to purchase.

Did I do anything with this tropification advice?

With 35 books out there, doing anything that means making changes to all of them fills me with dread. How long will it take? How much work will I have to do?

I decided to start small. I’d modify the book pages on my own website, a few books at a time. How was I going to find the tropes when I can hardly remember what many of my books are about, especially the older ones.

I turned to my more-or-less trusty assistant, Claude, and I asked it to give me marketing tropes for  Deadly Bones, one of my books. I didn’t feed it my book. It came back with data it gleaned from my website, from my Amazon pages, from reviews, from all over the interwebs.

This is what it came up with:

  • Cold case / buried remains — the bones-in-the-ground setup is a classic cold case entry point, used here with a cozy sensibility rather than a forensic thriller one
  • Accidental discovery — the mystery begins with something entirely mundane: a couple of dogs on the loose, which is perfectly in keeping with the series’ warm, small-town tone
  • Obstructionist authority figure — the mayor functions as an antagonist not through villainy but through bureaucratic shortsightedness, a distinctly cozy genre device
  • Seemingly unrelated crimes converging — the break-ins and the bones appear disconnected until they aren’t, a classic mystery plotting technique
  • Recurring detective as frenemy — Tyler Colfax returns from Book 1 as a necessary but prickly collaborator, building on the series’ ensemble continuity
  • Protagonist’s loved ones in danger — Gordon’s personal stakes are raised in the final act, pulling the story from procedural into something more urgent
  • Slow-burn series romance — Gordon and Angie’s relationship continues its gradual, warm development without overwhelming the mystery plot

I took these, chose the ones I though were most likely to show up in searches (as if I know), condensed them, then added a “Tropes” section to the basic book information on the Deadly Bones book page on my website.

Then, rinse, repeat as needed.

Am I going to take that information and add it to the book description for all my books on all my sales channels? Not right away.

Am I going to update all my A+ content, which I haven’t touched since I wrote that above post? I’ll have to see.

And, in closing, another reminder.

The best marketing is writing the next good book.
Which is what I’m in the middle of, so that’s taking priority right now.

What about you, TKZers? Are you moving with the trends, or sticking to your own methods? Any successes, less than successful methods to share?

Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

 

Round Up at the Montana Writers Rodeo

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by Debbie Burke

In May, my pardner in crime Leslie Budewitz and I saddled up her trusty Subaru and hit the dusty trail. Our destination: the 2026 Montana Writers Rodeo in Helena where we were both speaking.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about this fun boutique conference and was delighted to reconnect this year with director Mindy Peltier, founder Pamela Mencher, and chief wrangler Pearl Allen.

Because the conference is affiliated with the Helena Avenue Theatre (HAT), it welcomes the drama community and playwrights. During the weekend, in addition to craft presentations, actors performed scenes from plays written by members.

The Rodeo also encourages young writers. Friday evening, we were treated to imaginative short works read by three authors in middle and high school. I recognized a young man who’d also been at the event in 2024. Afterward I talked with them and expressed admiration for their bravery, standing onstage and baring their souls in front of an audience of strangers. I could never have done that at their age.

On Saturday morning, the kids were back, listening attentively. They asked questions that kept me and other speakers on our toes.

Mindy Peltier, MT Writers Rodeo Chair

Meet conference director/whirlwind Mindy Peltier. After raising and homeschooling six kids, Mindy knows how to cheerlead. On Friday afternoon, she kicked off the conference by encouraging attendees to become involved with a critique group or writing community. Improvement happens by learning new skills and hearing feedback from others. Critique groups offer objectivity, suggestions, and fresh viewpoints the author may not have considered. They foster creativity along with accountability. Perhaps more importantly, close groups not only help writing, they become a supportive family.

 

An unexpected highlight was speaker Allison Whitmer, Montana Film Commissioner. Working for the Department of Commerce, Allison’s big score was lassoing the Taylor Sheridan series Yellowstone, filmed in Montana. The franchise has brought multi-millions to the state in tourism, jobs, and production.

As film commissioner, Allison arranges everything from livestock to locally sourced food and cooks to prepare meals for cast and crew. Need lodging? She finds hotels, B&Bs, and homes to rent. How about extras, sound techs, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople? She’s got ’em.

Want to film on state or federal land? She facilitates permits and also negotiates with private owners for use of their property.

Need money to make a film? In April, the Big Sky Film Grant awarded $970,000 to 22 different projects from shorts to feature-length movies and TV programs. Productions are expected to spend more than $13 million in local rural communities.

At the Friday evening buffet, I chatted with Allison about her fascinating job. She is a writer herself and helps creatives and nonprofit groups like HAT and the Montana Writers Rodeo bring their events to life. Wonder if she needs an assistant?

(BTW, the buffet desserts featured tiny typewriters made from peanut butter, Mindy’s fun, tasty touch.)

Leslie Budewitz

Leslie Budewitz‘s keynote included surprises I’d never known despite being friends for more than 25 years. Although she’s published 19 books and won three Agatha awards, I learned she once doubted her own creativity. While she has great abilities in organization, research, and planning, she didn’t think she was creative, believing “creative women wore long flowy things with scarves and beads and complicated earrings,” not Levis and cowboy boots.

“I’d put unnecessary limitations on my concept of creativity,” she explained. “I suspect many of you have done the same thing.” Then she heard a talk by Professor Gerard Puccio that revised her thinking.

She compared two artists, Norman Rockwell and Pablo Picasso, who expressed creativity in vastly different ways. She encouraged the audience to embrace their unique individuality without limiting themselves by thinking I could never do that.

Authors often experience “What if I suck” days and Leslie reassured the audience that’s normal and expected for creative people. To help get past those discouraging days, she recommends becoming part of an active writing group. She credits involvement with the writing community as a major contributor to her success and opportunities.

Playwright/director/college instructor Ross Peter Nelson presented an entertaining workshop on dialogue writing skills with illustrations and audience participation. He projected excerpts from several plays on the screen and had audience members take turns reading a few lines. This exercise demonstrated how different tone, attitudes, accents, and subtext add to the richness of dialogue. On Saturday evening, a scene from one of Ross’s many plays was performed onstage by actors.

Award-winning speculative fiction author Kim Vandel spoke about techniques to create “suspension of disbelief” for readers. To write convincingly about sci-fi/fantasy characters and situations, she recommends using the five senses that readers can identify with. She employs the “Iceberg Principle of Worldbuilding” to reveal significant, specific details about the fantasy universe rather than overwhelming amounts of description. She also talked about the importance of emotion and awareness of brain chemistry to keep readers engaged.

Kim opened my eyes to the varied universe of speculative fiction with this slide:

Spec fiction genres courtesy of Kim Vandel

My talk was “The Hero’s Journey vs. the Villain’s Journey-How They’re Different Yet Alike.” In the slide show, I used film examples to compare and contrast two journeys: Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and Michael Corleone from The Godfather trilogy. The audience asked challenging questions and seemed to like the presentation because they bought all The Villain’s Journey paperbacks, plus a number of my thrillers. I was glad to take home a lighter load of books than I’d brought.

Jim Bell’s ears should have been burning during the conference because his name came up repeatedly. During the panel discussion with all speakers, most of us said we own his books and recommend them to improve craft skills.

May snow on roof outside my window

 

Mindy hosted Leslie, Kim, and me at her lovely log home in the forest. Sunday morning, I woke to a skiff of snow on the roof outside my bedroom window.

Even though May 17th is supposed to be well into spring, Montana weather never pays attention to the calendar.

 

 

 

Sunday breakfast with Kim, Scott, Leslie, and Mindy

Mindy’s husband Scott treated us to a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs and wonderful espresso coffee. The Peltiers deserve five stars on Yelp for gracious hospitality.

Reconnecting with friends and meeting new writers made the Rodeo weekend enjoyable, educational, and inspiring.

I especially appreciated that Leslie drove the entire 400-mile round trip. Thankfully the roads were mostly clear except occasional sleet and rain, often with sun shining through clouds at the same time. That’s springtime in the Rockies.

 

Extra bonus: We brainstormed during the journey and Leslie came up with a solution to a legal quandary in my WIP!

All in all, a fun and successful roundup!

~~~

TKZers: Any boutique writing conferences you’d like to recommend?

~~~

 

Want to build a fascinating villain or antagonist? Contact me at this link about upcoming zoom workshops. And read The Villain’s Journey – How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate.

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