Biz

Randy Rooney

Gorilla Marketing Revisited

I was staring at my computer, paralyzed by a massive case of writer’s block, when my doorbell rang. And rang. And rang. I knew right away it was my plumber, Sam, because he’s not a guy who goes easy on doorbells.

I went to the door, wondering if my wife had called Sam on some plumbing...

Word For Words

The Importance of Settings: Editing for a Sense of Place

Prong, pavé, channel, bezel—how a diamond is set and how it’s displayed make all the difference. It’s the same with the setting of a story. Editing for a sense of place is important, but how do you know which details to put in and which to leave out?

Screenwriting 101

Brainstorming New Story Ideas

“Old Marely was as dead as a doornail.” If you’ve been around the block a few times, you no doubt know Charles Dickens’s The Christmas Carol in detail. It is a story that many say has been overdone on the silver screen. And yet, one of my favorite directors, Robert Zemeckis, noted for his films Back to the Future, Forest Gump, and The Polar Express, decided to take on the project.

POD and Self-Publishing

This is the first installment of a series which hopefully will help teach people the ropes of publishing books without a traditional publisher (aka self-publishing). As with many things in life, there are a multitude of facets and complexities to this endeavor. I'm certainly not an expert in any one of these areas...

Bookclubs

The Unexpected Book Club

Homeless! I never thought this would happen to us. We had a plan—if we worked hard and did all the right things, we could put money aside for college, take vacations, and of course, continue to live in our home.

In May 2008, our plan was about to come undone. The economy changed drastically.