This book is a really interesting adaptation of Sun Tzu's famous work with a literary twist. It approaches writing a book like a battle. From mental preparation to tactics to what to do after you've "won," it covers the entire experience of writing a novel. It does tend to be overarching and big-...
I had heard others mention THE ART OF WAR FOR WRITERS: FICTION WRITING STRATEGIE, TACTICS, AND EXERCISES by JAMES SCOTT BELL, and to be honest, I resisted purchasing it. I don’t always believe all the hype. That is until I spotted this tiny book at a writing conference a few years back. I finally...
Murder, betrayal, and a trial that feeds a media frenzy.Can one woman stand against the forces that threaten to tear her family apart?Pastor Ron Hamilton’s star is rising. His 8,000-strong church is thriving. His good looks and charisma make him an exceptional speaker on family values. And his bo...
This suspense novel asks what if a liberal Supreme Court Justice, and the all-important swing vote, has a religious conversion that changes her whole life -- and the way she views the law?
How far will a father go to get back his only daughter? And how will he survive in a legal system that crushes those who can't afford to fight back?Mark Gillen has the storybook life other men dream of, complete with a beautiful wife and an adoring five-year-old daughter.Then his wife announces s...
Ty Buchanan is a rising star in his L.A. law firm, until the suspicious death of his fiancee forces him into the underbelly of the city to discover the truth behind her death. He soon has more than his career on the line, as he finds himself tangled up with a mysterious group of former gang membe...
Chuck Samson is a returned military chaplain with PTSD and other nightmares. He's barely keeping it together for his autistic brother's sake. But apparently something happened to Chuck while he was in Afghanistan that he can't remember and whatever it was is out to get him now. He has to face his...
When you write, write. Head down, plugging away, letting the words and scene unfold. Get a first draft done as quickly as you comfortably can. Revise the previous day’s work if you like, smoothing rough spots, making the conflict clearer. Then get to today’s work. When you’ve completed your novel...
Rocky woke up crying. In the dream, she and Arty were kids again and playing at the park. The park was by their house. They used to play there all the time. Arty would push her on the swings and then twirl her on the roundabout. When Arty was doing that, she felt safe. Happy, too, because he love...
He was behind the counter showing a fresh-faced Latina how to scoop ice cream.When he saw me he smiled, like I was a customer.Then his face went colder than the Rocky Road. “You that lawyer!”“Mr. Roshdieh, if I could—”“You get out of here! You get out of my store!”The fresh-faced girl looked scar...
The process is called voir dire, which is French for “speak the truth,” which doesn’t always happen in courts of law. That’s why lawyers get to question the venire, the panel of prospective jurors, and root around for fissures of trouble. Much of the ground had been covere...
Only half aware of what was happening on the field, Sam threaded his way off the bleachers and around the backstop, toward the place where Nicky Oberlin stood. And what would he do when he got there? He’d think of something, and it would flow naturally off the hot blood pounding in his head. This...
Opal Little, had owned the building on Glade Street in Verner for forty-seven years. Originally it was the house her husband, Warner, built with his own hands and kept adding to, until it became a sprawling, eclectic residence that used to attract tourists. When Warner died in ’92, Mrs. Little mo...
The writers of great books zealously learn the craft of their profession so they can release the power and depth of their imagination and experience. — Leonard Bishop, Dare to Be a Great Writer In 1173, the architect Bonanno Pisano began construction of his dream project: the bell tower for the c...
. . AND HOWIE WAS just five years old. Disney World was a blueprint then. Orlando still had a small-town feel. Fred Patino had taken a job with a big lumber and building outfit because along with Mickey Mouse would come boom times. Janet Patino was pregnant and about to give birth to Lindsay, the...
As mother of one of the victims, Mona Romney was allowed a seat in arraignment court, along with the press, which was well represented. Several reporters asked her for a comment, but she refused. She was not ready to talk to reporters, or anyone else for that matter. She was here for Matthew, for...