Books/Writing


Fake Book Reviews: What We Can Learn

The phrase of the day is “Fake Book Reviews.” We’ve heard the horror stories about authors who discover people have left bad reviews because of grudges or out of a misplaced fear of competition. Fake book reviews can do lasting damage to book sales and worse to the psyche of the author who is the victim. But maybe we can take something positive away from the unpleasant reality of fake reviews. You may be familiar with this recent story—debut author […]


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Novel Magic: Furbabies in Books 3 comments

Furbabies light up our lives, don’t they? So I’m a cat lady–eight of them at the moment–and each and every one of them has inspired some scene or character in my books. My guest, Author Darlene Dziomba, takes her furbaby love seriously as well. Her new book Fire and Dalmation will be out in March. Immortalize Your Loved Ones as a CharacterDarlene Dziomba When I decided to adopt a dog. It was important to me to find a dog from […]


Novel Magic: The Turkish Affair

The Turkish Affair A romantic mystery by J. Arlene Culiner I know many readers expect a romantic suspense to resemble a television drama with stalkers, a serial killer or two, car chases, shoot outs, terror, gun-packing super heroes and heroines. But I’ve always preferred realistic stories, even in the romance genre. I’m certain that, if I were being threatened by a madman, I’d be so wrought up, I wouldn’t have time to fall in love. Besides, in real life, there’s […]

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Be Careful What You Wish For

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.If turnips were swords, I’d have one at my side.If “ifs” and “ands” were pots and pans,There’d be no work for tinkers’ hands. Scottish Nursery Rhyme You know how I used to spend a great deal of time whining about my soul-sucking day job and how the only thing that kept me from writing multiple books in a single afternoon was the time I had to waste making a living? I begged my […]


Novel Magic: Top 10 Ways to Procrastinate 1 comment

Procrastination runs Rampant in Sorchia’s Universe and my guest has given me even more ideas to up my procrastination game. What do writers do to avoid writing? My guest–Lyndi Alexander (also writing as Alana Lorens) –gives up her secrets. Don’t forget to check out her new Supernatural Thriller–Remnants of Fire. Top Ten Things I Do to Procrastinate When I Should Be Writing. by Lyndi Alexander (also writing as Alana Lorens)  My latest supernatural thriller, REMNANTS OF FIRE, was a NaNoWriMo book […]

Novel Magic logo--stars and colors in an abstract pattern

Novel Magic logo--stars and colors in an abstract pattern

Novel Magic: Ghost Stories and Free Books! 4 comments

Before you head out to terrorize the mortals on Halloween (or is that just me?) check out this post about a fantastic anthology of ghost stories–many of them based on true stories. Read on for more. And enter to win a copy of Santa Cruz Ghost Stories, an anthology put together by my guest, Nancy Lynn Jarvis. Hands Up if You’ve Had a Ghostly Encounter. by Nancy Lynn Jarvis I write cozy mysteries mostly, but I’ve herded cats on occasion. […]