Paige Hawthorne: Blog

There are a lot of contenders in my library of mysteries. Certain works by Thomas Perry, Michale Connelly, Lawrence Block, John Sanford, Robert Crais. And many others who belong on my hit list.

At the top, for me, is "The First Deadly Sin" by Lawrence Sanders. It's resonated with me ever since I first read it years ago. Dogged, plodding, never-quitting, Edward X. Delaney.

Although, now that I think about it, I may have to elevate "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." I like tough girls.

Am I biased? Guilty as charged.

Paige

Working on my third story, I find myself invested in my fictional character, my alter ego, Winter Jennings. Maybe over-invested.

Winter is my better angel, my inspiration to become the better person I imagine her to be.

The problem is, or could become, my fondness for Winter could affect my writing. How I describe her, what I have her doing. Or not doing. Rather than taking a writerly approach, I might be letting my emotions shape the character.

How do you boys deal with this?

Paige

I organize my bookshelves by cubical. One author per. Connelly, McCall Smith, Perry, Child, Parker, Crais, etc.

Some of my favorites take up several cubbies and I keep them adjacent to each other.

Fine.

Then one day I decided to do some Spring cleaning. I took out all authors I wouldn't revisit some day. And, within the writers who made the cut, I deleted all of their books I knew I would never reread.

The first purge resulted in over 300 books. Hardcover with dust jackets. I took them to a used book chain, one that buys books and records and CDs.

$26. I was floored.

But the assistant manager, a pleasant girl, explained the economics of her slice of BookWorld. She told me most of my books would never make it onto her shelves. They'd be donated or recycled. In fact, she turns down donations on a regular basis. She's oversubscribed in fiction.

My dystopian book harvesting continues, but now everything goes to the library. Dystopian is a word we hear a lot these days. Like gravitas back when a Texan was in the White House.

Paige

A reader hipped me to the fact that it's possible for readers to make comments at the end of stories. And used Jay Cantrell's "Learning Curve" as an example.

Well, I'm on my own SOL learning curve and just figured out how to open my own stories to readers' remarks. Now 100% (both) of my stories are available for scholarly observations.

Oh, I also updated my Profile. Now that I've learned it can be done.

Enjoy.

Or not.

Paige

Just so you know … I actually read every one of my SOL emails. And, I occasionally copy & paste one in my Futures folder. These saved letters might contain a good tip on writing, they could suggest different styles, explain the inner workings of the reader scoring system. Or otherwise engage me.

I also cache some of the recommended-authors suggestions. A couple of you boyos promoted a local writer's first story:

"An Equine of an Alternative Hue" by Danny Sildenafil.

His pen name alone signals a sense of humor. And his story description contains what is, I assume, an on-purpose misspelling. In any case, I got a kick out of the Damon Runyon paean.

Danny's score is lower even than mine, but I don't pay attention to scores anyway. Who does?

Paige