Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. –Samuel Beckett This is about the most ADHD mantra I’ve ever come across. I have no idea if Samuel Beckett had ADHD, but I do, and this is how I live my life. …
Read MoreSpeed Blogging: Seven Blog Posts in One
You’ve heard of speed dating? This is speed blogging. I just spent half an hour going through lists of blog post ideas and none of them seemed like something I could write a blog post about. A lot of them were worth a sarcastic comment, …
Read MoreHomemade Writer’s Retreat
I’m on a writer’s retreat this week. Sort of. I’m cat sitting and using this time alone, away from home, to write. I’ve never gone on an official writer’s retreat, but I did once spend a weekend (at a special rate!) at a hotel downtown …
Read MoreSetting Inspiration
How do you just make up a place? Do you conjure it out of thin air? Do you use a real place that you know well? Do you create a hybrid of a real place with things that you imagine? Short answer: Yes. Here´s how …
Read MoreThe Case for Ebooks
I could tell you all the reasons why you should read ebooks: It saves paper and space. The smallest Kindle can hold between 3,000 and 6,000 books. The fancy one can hold 4 times that many books. You can effectively walk around with a small …
Read MoreThe Jessica Fletcher Problem
Some friends were discussing the number of murders on a cozy mystery TV series they were watching and made some tongue-in-cheek statements to the effect that they wouldn’t want to live in that town because people kept getting murdered there. A while ago, there were …
Read MoreWhat Indie Author Means
Some folks have wondered why my book isn’t on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Kobo or at the library or in the local bookstore. I’m an indie author. That’s a rather wide umbrella term, so allow me to explain which kind of indie author …
Read MoreBook Report!
Someone wrote a review of my book. You can read it here: https://thehermitsrest.blog/2023/02/01/book-report-byrne-your-bridges/?fbclid=IwAR1Ps4ghjNqvH4h_ctxCI5yA9HEoUVp5_seMsAWfp9shh4c0lNZ5ib2qgxE I’ve taken all of Suna’s editorial comments to heart. I’m sure they’ll make subsequent books in the series better. Also, read Suna’s blog! Read about her life in the “peace, quiet, and …
Read MoreHow Long Did it Take You to Write Your Book?
Depends on how you look at it. Anywhere from 3 months to 50 years in the case of my first novel. Here’s how it breaks down. Fifty years: In 1972, Mr. Durand, my English teacher, gave me an A on a short story and asked …
Read More