Book Review – Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie


I’ve become a real fan of Jennifer Crusie lately. It may be what’s going on in my life right now, but I’m reading more romantic comedy than usual. It gives me a place to relax the brain and enjoy some happy emotions. One of the things about reading on my iTouch is I can jump from book to book as the mood (and battery life) lets me. So what does this have to do with this review? I was reading 4 books until I started Maybe this Time. Suddenly I was reading one book and finding more time to read.

 

It’s a retelling of The Turn of the Screw – don’t let that put you off, it’s funny and dark and romantic.

 

Jennifer Crusie has created a cast of great characters. Andie, our hero, North Archer – our love interest (I kept thinking his name was Archer North but no). Her mother, his mother, old loves, brothers, evil newscasters and housekeepers, and two slightly crazy but fabulous kids.

 

10 page turns out of 10

 

Maybe This Time

 

Some other books by Jennifer Crusie

 

Trust Me On This

 

The Cinderella Deal

 

Happy Writing

 

Perry



Links for you, useful stuff for writers.


Here are a few links for you – mostly picked from the variety of blogs I follow.

 

The Swivet – why your hook is important.

 

Allison Winn Scotch – when to put away the manuscript.

 

Janet Reid – query letters

 

Write to Done – Adverbs

 

Happy writing

 

Perry



Looking for help with writing craft?


I was on my Goodreads group this morning and I found all kinds of posts asking for help. One post was specific to one sentence the author was trying to revise. She got responses right away and three great ones (okay one was mine but it was great, really).

 

I guess the point is, look for help everywhere. You never know where you’ll find that gem of advice that takes you to the next level.

 

Happy writing

 

Perry



Useful links for writers


Hi, here are a few links that you might find useful.

 

For writers who need to know all about forensic science.

 

Links within links from Charlotte Dillon about character development.

 

World Builder Projects, all about world building links.

 

Happy Writing

 

Perry



some useful links


I’ve been reading a few great blogs the last couple of days. Here are three that I think will help most writers.

 

There are no rules a good article about querying (just because PaperBox Books isn’t the only channel to your reader).

 

From Ask the Publishing Guru about using strong verbs.

 

And, finally,

 

How to kill your imaginary friends – this one may not be useful for everyone, but it’s got great information on exsanguination.

 

Happy writing.

 

Perry



10 Great Questions – to ask yourself when editing


We receive a lot of manuscripts to publish. Our goal is to publish as many as we can since unlike the bigger publishers, we’re not hampered by limited shelf space.

 

However, this doesn’t mean we’re willing to slack off in the editing department.

 

I saw this great article tweeted, and re-tweeted out. It’s well deserving of the re-tweets. It’s one of the best list of questions to ask yourself while editing, especially if you’re planning to publish http://thetravelersnotebook.com/articles/checklist-for-writers-10-questions-to-ask-while-editing/

 

Writing for fun and writing for publication are two very different animals. To be a successful writer you have to find a way to combine them together.

 

Good luck with your writing.

 

Sue



Helpful tools


I have been lucky enough to be able to visit the site of my upcoming book, but I used a number of tools to research and write before going to San Francisco. The trip was to fine tune, not to do the primary research.

 

The two tools that I find the most useful, and maybe you do too, are Google Street View and just Google search. I know there are tonnes of other tools available both free and paid but these two tools have been my saving grace many a time when I needed to do a quick research and get back to writing – i.e. during National Novel Writing Month.

 

Using Google Street View let me see that there was a perfect place in front of city hall to dump a body in Closing the Circle. It didn’t show me that there are cameras all around and I needed to make sure I dealt with that when my investigators were unable to identify the killer.

 

Using Google search has helped me to research my Urban Fantasy – so far I can’t see what it is missing but we’ll see as I write.

 

Looking for a name for your character? type in your question in Google search bar and you’ll find all kinds of places to match attribute to name.

 

So, if you are stuck for a location, type in an address or intersection and Google maps will take you there.

 

Happy writing

 

Perry



Friday link – good advice


Hi, this is from Ask the Publishing Guru – great advice on writing like a pro.

 

Five Writing Tips.

 

Happy writing

 

Perry



Welcome Fiction Therapy


Over the past few months, Perry and I have been approached several times to help author’s polish their work to submit to print publishers or just get feedback on their current work in progress.

 

After a lot of thought and encouragement (thanks guys) we decided to expand our services.

 

To help prevent confusion between the role of PaperBox Books and our paid critique service, we created Fiction Therapy. Visit our website at fictiontherapy.com.

 

Don’t worry, when you sumbit your work to PaperBox Books, you’ll still receive the same level of feedback as you always have but it IS only a review. We mention 3-5 points that you have done well or could use improvement. By necessity, our main focus is on whether your work is ready to publish or not.

 

Fiction Therapy on the other hand offers an indepth critique. We address several story components by both comments within the manuscript and an overview document. There is no obligation to publish with PaperBox Books – although, we won’t mind if you do.

 

Check out our latest venture at FictionTherapy.com. We’re on Twitter too at @fictiontherapy, stop by and say hi!

 

Sue



Writing site – 750words.com


Last night I was introduced to 750words a site for writers to get the juices flowing

 

The idea is to write 750 words every day and you’ll find the rest of the writing easier. You can write whatever you want, it doesn’t need to be a story or a scene.

 

When you write you graduate through the process of egg to turkey to penguin to … well you need to earn the points to get there. The fun thing is that you get all kinds of statistics and analysis of your writing.

 

I recommend you try it out, what the heck it’s a tool and we all have those days when we can’t seem to get going.

 

Perry

 

Don’t forget the great pricing contest $2.99 romantic fantasy or $6.99 dual version of a paranormal fantasy.