Part of the magic of cracking the cover of a new book, (and yes, I just admitted to cracking the spines of my paperback books) is the participatory component of storytelling. Image by Maria Zangone from Pixabay I have to acknowledge that there is a different UX (User Experience) when a story is delivered through… Continue reading From Page to Screen: Cozy Mystery Book-to-TV Adaptations
When I tell folks I write “Cozy” Mystery, it is often followed by a blank look while their gears and cogs translate the term. More often than not, coming up empty, they ask, “what is a ‘cozy’ mystery?” Fair enough, the words cozy and murder, mystery, whodunit, are not exactly twins of the same mother,… Continue reading Cozy Mystery Settings: A Charming Village for a Whodunit
The proof is in the pudding. Here’s the effect of AI on writing. In a new conversation with Chat GPT (the AI program I am using) I have asked it: “Chat GPT, please outline a blog post about AI on the future of writing.” To which Chat GPT responded with a three-and-a-half-page blog post on… Continue reading A.I. and the Future of Authors… The Scary Truth
Did ya miss me? I was off enjoying Charlottesville Design Week in Charlottesville, VA. If you're a design creative, it's the place to be in April. (I believe next year's event is scheduled for April 13-19, so mark your calendars... and double-check my dates.) Great Design, by Laura,Hosted by Tuesday Design Society. Day 1: Networking with… Continue reading Getting Cozy with Creatives
Last week I attended several events at the Virginia Festival of the Book, an annual event sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities in Charlottesville, VA. For me, this year was all about the Book Arts and book-themed art. With permission, (c) Blake Gore. I had the pleasure of chatting with Blacksburg, VA artist,… Continue reading Books and Book-Themed Art!
I’m supposed to be writing the next novel, but sometimes, you just have to give in to fate when a story lands in your lap. During the morning writing hours, I mute my phone, so I didn’t hear the notifications indicating that someone was knocking on my door, circling the yard to find signs of… Continue reading Writing and Wine Before Nine… a.m.
Finally. Whew. It's here, er, there, er, out in the ether. And speaking of ether... Something sinister is brewing in the Poropotank riverside community. Rocky Smith is a serial husband: married three times, divorced twice, and murdered on a Friday. Instead of heading off to the afterlife, he perches atop Grey’s Hotel overlooking the small… Continue reading Book Release!!!
I see story everywhere. A shopping bag hangs on an iron hook at my studio door. There’s a story in that bag, I’m sure of it, with its Metropolitan Museum print of a cat. Beside the bag, there hangs a pair of witch’s boots. Above that, a copy of a placard that describes the best… Continue reading Tunnel Books and Peep-Shows
I’m a natural born collector. My kids refer to it as orderly hoarding, light on the "orderly". But I just learned that it was an early iteration of social climbing: he with the weirdest collection of artifacts mounts the higher rung on the social ladder. Well, I doubt I would win any such awards. I… Continue reading A Cabinet of Curiosities
That title sounds grandiose and academicky. (The word, “academicky” will cure you of that delusion.) This is one of those things I had to look up. According to Merriam-Webster, a liminal space is “of or relating to, or situated at a sensory threshold…” I had a vague impression of the meaning, but apparently, it’s a… Continue reading Liminal Spaces in Storytelling
