blog
Shaking the Tree is now officially in audiobook production with Tom Campbell narrating.
Here is a quick 30 second tease from the book’s opening prologue.
recipes
3-2-1
Gearing up to start a new book and find myself fighting the feeling of “been there, done that” expertise. I’ve written six series genre books at this point. There are certain reader expectations to be met. Conventions to follow. It would be simple to eschew innovation and fall into the trap of mindlessly filling in the blanks and checking those boxes.
I believe the best way to achieve true mastery, not just average competence is to try to remain ignorant. Or at least open to new possibilities within your constraints. That’s how you best push those constraints and surprise the reader.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Don Winslow this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” So often it seems that we want to work easily at work worth doing.
After the book launch and some downtime to re-charge, I’m starting to gear up to write the next book. Why write another? Because it’s challenging and you rarely have regrets in life when taking on and completing challenging work.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Chester Himes this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
The most frequent question I often get is ‘How do you find the time to fit it all in.’ All, presumably, being a full-time job, a parent, exercising, socializing, reading and writing books. How? Do you sleep three hours a night? No, actually, I almost always sleep almost eight hours a night.
One big key is to make consistent, everyday progress. You don’t write a book in a day, or a week, or a month. You write it one word at a time. One day, one hour, at a time.
The other big secret? Divide all those to-do item into distinct categories and it’s alright to be a little selfish, too. 1) things I need to do, 2) things I want to do, and 3) things other people want me to do. You probably won’t get to number 3 very often. Don’t feel guilty. It’s called having boundaries.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Donald Ray Pollock’s Knockemstiff this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
Crooked Prayers has been out for a couple of weeks now. It’s been out of my brain for longer. After a break, I’m starting to get that itch to put words on paper again.
The key to writing a book, or doing anything worthwhile really, is consistency. Motivation will come and go.
Whatever you want to do, make it easy enough and simple enough that you’ll do it even when you don’t feel like it.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Joyce Carol Oates this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
Crooked Prayers is out now. Go read it. I think it’s pretty good. I think you’ll get a fun distraction from much of the awful news. A little time off from doomscrolling could be a good thing.
The dirty secret to many writer’s ideas or plots is that they aren’t new, original, or unique. Coming up with something truly original is hard and very rare. What writers do is often remix bits and pieces of different past plots, characters, or ideas and try to come up with something compelling and unexpected from those stolen, re-used bits.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from King’s DREAMCATCHER this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
Crooked Prayers comes out next week (Wednesday March 16th!) and I’m neck deep in publishing prep. This means I am not writing, at least as much as I’d like to normally. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. After spending a solid year on Crooked Prayers, I needed a break.
Here is a good quote from poet May Sarton on the importance of rest:
“I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged, damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room.”
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Alfred Hitchcock this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
Often after I finish a piece of writing, novel or short story, there is a period of… aimlessness where I really don’t feel like writing. While there is certainly a period where the creative muscles might need to re-charge, it is also easy to fall into the habit of not writing.
When I feel this effect, this slipping from re-charging to complacency, I often think of a quote from Joyce Carol Oates on mood and motivation following action:
“One must be pitiless about this matter of “mood.” In a sense, the writing will create the mood. … I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes … and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.”
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from mystery author Michael Connelly this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series
3-2-1
If the Russian-Ukranine conflict has you back to doomscrolling, maybe this letter from E.B. White will give you some hope.
‘Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:
Quotes from Donald Westlake’s Parker this week:
Until next Thursday, happy reading,
Mike
Author the Max Strong thriller series