A passion for word games and puzzles can serve as a bridge to creative and expository writing. Letters and sounds are the building-blocks of words. Words form sentences and sentences convey meaning to inform readers, evoke emotions, and stimulate thinking. Working crosswords, playing scrabble, and completing word search exercises can pay dividends. Even the taking … Continue reading CROSSWORDS
I am scheduled to teach a class next week at New Dimensions Lifelong Learning Institute in Grand Junction, Colorado. It's a continuing education program for people, like myself, who are in their golden years. The class is entitled "Writing Your First Book or Writing Family Stories." Looks like 15-20 people may be attending. The question … Continue reading What can I teach anybody about writing?
I've now published two novels in my Mountain Mystery Series. Book One is "The Road to Lavender" and Book Two is "A Lavender Wedding." Both novels take place in the mythical town of Lavender, Colorado, on the wild Western Slope of Colorado. And both works chronicle the adventures of my handsome detective/lavender farmer, Trinidad Sands, … Continue reading How real is your fiction?
My professional writers' organization, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW) has invited me to write a monthly blog to share with members. I joined the group in 2017 and managed to attend two in-person conventions before COVID-19 reared its ugly... I was going to say "head," but I somehow doubt if a virus has what most … Continue reading So, you want to be a blogger?
Well, it's official. One of my good friends, who wishes to remain anonymous, just forwarded me a photograph of him lounging in his summertime swimming pool while reading my (presumably) waterproof novel. This may not seem like front page news, but consider these realities: I myself have yet to hold the book in my anxious … Continue reading Out to Launch a New Mystery Novel
We label a creature we wish to stalk, kill, butcher, and eat ‘game,’ then have the gall to assign, to an over-ripe bit of the unfortunate’s tainted flesh, the label ‘gamey.’ Sometimes we get the name exactly right. Except for a minor disagreement about vowels, ‘deer’ seems an appropriate moniker for these gentle and—frankly—endearing beasts. … Continue reading The Naming of Animals, by Us
I have a dog. Let me rephrase that: "I have a temporary dog." I'm dog-sitting for a friend who's planning to move from Colorado to Arizona. (I don't ask why such things occur, I just hear and obey...like some dogs.) My friend is in the Grand Canyon State scouting locations. She's steering clear of big … Continue reading A dog’s life
This, in Colorado anyway, is not a blizzard. Went snowshoeing a few days ago with Donna Marie, my dear friend who recently moved from Texas to the wild Western Slope of Colorado. She's an old hand at the healthy winter exercise of walking on snow and I'm a beginner. To reach enough snow, she guided … Continue reading If you’re from Texas, how to tell if you’re in a Colorado blizzard
In case you think that the life of a novelist is all cake and ice cream, here's a look at just two pages of my line-by-line revision of my mystery, THE ROAD TO LAVENDER, due out in January 2020. Editing is not for the faint of heart. (Investment hint: copy and save this image. When … Continue reading Here’s your problem…
It was 1952 and the rotary telephone was just beginning to replace rural party lines and the need to ask a live operator to dial the desired number. And cell phones were something prisoners were allowed to use to make their obligatory single call presumably to a lawyer or their bookie. In October of that … Continue reading You may already be a winner
d.p. BENJAMIN 