First Word

  Every spring and summer, my mom would make her famous potato salad. When I was a kid and a much pickier eater, it was my favorite dish. As I grew up, and I wanted to ask for her to make something special, her potato salad always got requested.  Now that I'm doing the nutritional challenge, I wanted to make it for the cookbook and immortalize her recipe. What makes Mom's salad so special is she adds hard-boiled eggs. Most salads only add potatoes. I love the addition of the eggs, because it tastes similar to Mom's other specialty, "eggy" sandwiches. I know you're thinking "eggy"? Well, she always called it by that moniker. So, stay tuned for Mama's "Eggy" Sandwich recipe coming soon.  Mom's home-cooked meals always seemed to be on a rotation -- some I foods I loved, others not so much. She used canned vegetables (it was the era, after all). For the longest time, I hated vegetables -- that is, until I discovered that fresh vegetable...

Since Romance Novels are selling, check out my romance books, California Girl Chronicles by Michelle Gamble-Risley available on Amazon as eBook and print. I just read that came out of HARO/Vocus, which is a public relations database tool. Want to know the "anatomy of a best seller"? Guess what they said recent publishing studies revealed?   Romance is the no. #1 genre . I guess romance is back and hot again. For a while romance was dwindling. Usually when times are tough, romance novels become escapist entertainment. Maybe something is in the air right now that have readers turning more toward romantic adventures. Perhaps recent terror attacks and the like have made general readers not want to explore too much reality.   The most successful novels are 375 pages . Funny they revealed this number because just yesterday my mom, who is a voracious reader, told me she prefers books at least 350 pages. She said it made her feel like she got her money...

Recent events in my life got me to thinking. Why don't I listen to my intuition like I should. First, some people will try to tell you that you don't even have an intuition. Stop right there. Want to know what is your intuition? It's the slightly uncomfortable feeling that something isn't quite right. It makes you feel uneasy and provokes you to question things more than you normally would.  After being monumentally lied to for not just a short period of time, but literally years I felt so angry. Not just with him, but mostly mad at myself for continually chasing my little voice into a closet. The man in question lied and lied and lied and lied until the very definition of lying should be "his mouth is moving".  After being manipulated and conned out of literally thousands of dollars, I really was indignant. At the same time, the signs were all over the place. So for the art of teaching others important lessons I learned at both the expense ...

Here are some tips to improve your novel:   Pacing 101 -keep your prose moving by not getting caught up in redundant techniques. For example, I laughed with my author today that only so many facial expressions are available in the repertoire of descriptive opportunities. She puzzled on the comment. I chuckled, "Well, you can only 'smile, grin or frown' so many times before it's repetitious and unnecessary to keep saying it. When you take out what I'll call "the extended version of dialog" you'll notice something interesting-suddenly, your story is moving much faster. When trying to create the famous "page-turner" effect you'll want to expeditiously tell your story. Trim the fat, make it lean, but don't make it skinny (and that's a whole other tip in and of itself).   Redundancy, Redundancy What's Your 'Abundancy'? You'll notice a little play on School House Rock here (for those of you youngst...

1. Using the character's name too often in the dialog . Think about it. When you're talking to someone, how often do you actually say his or her name. You don't need to use their names. People don't talk like that and repeat someone's name often in conversation. It bogs down your writing and pacing. 2. He said, she said -- no, no . If you have only two characters in a scene once you establish who has spoken first, no need to use "said" anymore unless you have specific purpose to express more than the statement of someone saying something. For example, she said with an angry look of outrage. 3. Repeating what you just described . Too often writers will show the character doing something and repeat in the dialog what the reader just read. Once you've established something about a scene, no need to rehash it in the dialog or even reference it again. It bogs down the pacing and bores the reader with the redundancy. For example, a character walks in t...

7             Darian Masterson was a troubled teenager with a long history of shoplifting. She started doing it when she was 13 and wanted to wear makeup to school. Since her mother was an Evangelical Christian she wasn’t about to let her young daughter smear makeup on her otherwise gorgeous and naturally beautiful face. So Darian got very good at swiping eye shadow, mascara, cover-up, and a sundry of chic lipsticks at the local pharmacy. Having grown up in the neighborhood and become friendly with the counter ladies, nobody suspected the gorgeous blond girl with the incredible developing figure of doing anything wrong. Darian though was also hiding a dark secret – she had begun to turn tricks with her older brother Robby’s friends. Robby was 20 and his friends horny. Being a resourceful entrepreneur and seizing the idea he could pimp his younger and innocent-looking sister out for some pretty good dough, R...

My partner Scott D. Roberts and I do book coaching as part of our services at 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com). An interesting weakness we often see in writers is the inability or skill to pace their books. Here are three tips about pacing: #1 -- Using Too Much Exposition . A big no-no is too much exposition in the narrative that bogs down the writing. You have to keep your eye on what you're trying to accomplish on each page. Each scene, each moment needs to move the story forward or have a purpose in the story. We often see new writers who mistake a great description as building a colorful setting. Your description should only feature that which does the following: #2 . Helps define the scene so the reader understands the place . For example, if you have a scene in an office you need just enough exposition to convey the nature of the office and that's all. This gives the reader an idea of it so they can picture it in their minds. For example, a lawyer's office ...

I'm starting a daily blog written exclusively to help business leaders and owners learn more about marketing and public relations tips to grow business. Q: Do you know what your media kit should contain? A: A press release That sound basic enough. Yet many professionals don't know what should be in a media kit. A press release is the most obvious answer, but not everyone knows what a media kit is or what it's for much less what it should contain. A press release is written to give your service, product or business exposure to the media. What does the media want to see? Most media is for entertainment or news. Whether it's broadcast, print or online, every press release should have a "news hook" and the news hook should relate to the headlines of the day or be relevant to something going on in the world. For more information, contact us at 916-300-8012 or send email to info@3LPublishing.com.

11 The next day, Kale summoned me to the office – early again. He said he wanted to talk about something important. When I arrived, he was dressed in a button-down, light-blue, short-sleeved shirt that matched his eyes and jeans. He looked happy to see me. We seemed to be making progress – our relationship had mellowed into a comfortable ambiguity. It felt so warm and nice to be around him that I thought I would take what time I could get alone with him and enjoy it. I also suspected he called me in early to ensure quality alone time before the staff arrived. It seemed like Monica had made it her habit lately to interrupt us. I didn’t know if Kale had noticed, but I sure had. I had completely avoided any discussion that would define their relationship because I held out hope that their intimate closeness was in my imagination. A California girl could hold out hope anyway. Kale walked straight over to me and hugged me. To my utter shock, he leaned ove...

Purchase a copy on Amazon ( click here )   8 I walked into the production offices. No one had arrived yet – it was 6:00 a.m. Most people in this industry didn’t get up this early unless they were working on set. Kale’s office door was wide open; I assumed to let me know to come in. I walked up and knocked on the open door. Kale was nowhere in sight. I felt a presence come up behind me. I turned around to find Kale smiling at me, and I watched his eyes scan me up and down in my white organdy sundress and flat white sandals. He handed me a latte in a Peet’s cup. “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said and took a sip. “I see you got my message.” I sipped and tasted the latte – my favorite. I was touched that he remembered. “Thanks for the coffee,” I said and nodded in appreciation. “I was surprised you wanted me to scout locations with you.” He looked very relaxed in khaki cargo shorts, a slate-blue T-shirt and brown leather sandals. Kale walke...