As the old cigarette commercial used to proclaim, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” WE’VE come a long way—from the first moveable type to search engines.

Although the Polar Vortex is gone—at least for now—and despite Punxsatawney Phil’s predictions of an early spring (and did you know that statistically he is wrong more often than not?), most of the nation is still in a deep freeze. What to do with your free time? It’s not gardening weather; it’s too early to plant anything. You can’t go out and practice pitching or batting. You can’t shoot hoops. Not with snow still on the ground in many places, and ice in some. If you’re into winter sports, great, but most of us don’t own snowshoes or a snowmobile,...

I was reading an unpublished manuscript—I don’t want to name the title or the author, and the circumstances of my reading it are irrelevant here—but the book, a work of fiction, made a group of Muslim refugees the “bad guys.”

So many writers and would-be writers, when discussing a boutique publisher or a self-publishing company, will ask me the almost inevitable question: “But can they get my book into Barnes & Noble?”

When someone does something well, do you tell them you thought they did a good job? When YOU  do something well, whether it’s cooking a difficult and impressive recipe, growing some spectacular orchids, doing an amazing cabinetry job, or giving a great speech, don’t you like to receive praise that tells you your efforts were appreciated? Authors are no different. We like to know that our readers appreciate our books. There are several ways in which you can praise an author’s work. The one that does him or her the most good is to post a good review online. Where...

Here’s a radical idea: DON’T MAKE ANY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS! No! Instead, make a list of ACCOMPLISHMENTS you wish to see yourself attain in 2019. What do YOU want to accomplish in 2019? Declare it…and then DO it! Let’s start close to home, with readers and writers. Are you a reader? How many books did you read this year? Did you determine you will read five more, 10 more, 20 more in 2019? Whatever your target number, choose a number that’s feasible…and then live up to it. Are you a writer? What are YOU going to accomplish? Finally sitting down...

As the year draws to a swift close, it’s inevitable that we look back on the 12 months past. Some of us will do so with regret or even anguish, while others will do so with satisfaction or a warm glow. Where do you stand?

For a change of pace, nothing this week about books, libraries, reading, book signings and similar events, or such. Instead, we’re going to talk about words,or more specifically word choices. And, even more specifically, this will be a rant about other people’s rants.

How is a writer to write about Christmas when there’s no snow on the ground? Is that your question? Yes, I live in South Florida, where the only snow is artificial (or in snow globes),but what many non-writers don’t realize is that Christmas books are, of necessity, written long before the holiday season. In fact, they might even be written when the snows of the previous winter—up north—are still melting in the spring thaw. It isn’t just South Floridians and Southern Californians who need to ignore rising temperatures when writing about sleds or Santa. Books published by a self-publishing outfit...