This is the fourth time I’ve shared a manuscript with someone. My fourth book. You’d think I’d be better at it. The sharing, I mean. The handing over my little world I’ve created. The first time I handed over a story for critique, I panicked. To be fair, I was a freshman in college –Continue reading “Manuscript Swap”
Author Archives: AmiMaxine
First Friday Rec: The Dead Hand
Title: The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous LegacyAuthor: David E. HoffmanGenre: NonfictionPages: 608Publication Date: Aug 3, 2010StoryGraph* Moods: informative, dark, tenseHow I Stumbled Upon This Book: I read, on recommendation, his book The Billion Dollar Spy (as research) – in seeing what else he had written,Continue reading “First Friday Rec: The Dead Hand”
Good Grief
In a previous post, I wrote about the times I’ve been able to see Sara Bareilles perform (or talk – that being specific to her book tour). I have a lot of memories tied up with some of these performances, so when an opportunity to see her again comes around, it’s not a simple questionContinue reading “Good Grief”
I Bought a Book
I realize fully that this title is not newsworthy. I’m a writer. I read voraciously. Ergo – I’m probably the type of person who buys books. Except, these days, I’m not. (Well, not really.) Growing up, all my money went to books and CDs because those were the things I cared most about (well, itContinue reading “I Bought a Book”
That Other Fire: Peshtigo
Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, I, of course, learned about the Great Chicago Fire. It’s a fire that many across the country learn about. After all, in just three days, 2,100 acres burned, leaving over 100,000 people homeless and taking the lives of over three hundred people. Historians still debate the impact ofContinue reading “That Other Fire: Peshtigo”
What does it mean to visit a place?
I have a couple of travel goals. The first is to visit every state in the U.S. Another was to visit every country in the world, which I’ll admit I made with the understanding that I would never reach this very unreachable goal. (I mean, aside from the places it’s just unsafe for me toContinue reading “What does it mean to visit a place?”
First Friday Rec: The Quiet Librarian
Title: The Quiet LibrarianAuthor: Allen EskensGenre: Historical FictionPages: 320Publication Date: Feb 3, 2026StoryGraph* Moods: dark, tense, emotionalHow I Stumbled Upon This Book: I honestly don’t remember – but I will read anything involving librarians and librariesOther Books by this author: The Life We Bury, The Stolen Hours, The Shadows We Hide, Nothing More Dangerous, SavingContinue reading “First Friday Rec: The Quiet Librarian”
Best Laid Plans
At the time of writing this, I have finished the manuscript for the murder mystery I had been writing and done one complete revision/edit of it. Then, I went through and created a reverse outline. This is a handy tool to see what you’ve got on the page in a manageable way – because 94KContinue reading “Best Laid Plans”
Comedy and Language
Well, here’s a post a bit out of left field for you today. 🙂 When I was a kid, my papa (maternal grandfather) would sometimes sit my sister and I down and play for us videos of his favorite comedian – a Danish-American man (who also acted and could play the piano beautifully). His nameContinue reading “Comedy and Language”
chah-muh-lee-on
I don’t remember when I first heard someone say never to judge someone for mispronouncing a word because they probably learned that word from reading. But it has stuck with me. Here’s the thing – English is hard. It’s, quite honestly, a mistake. It’s what happens when you take German people and French Latin peopleContinue reading “chah-muh-lee-on”
