Clicking Our Heels: Authors Whose Craft Abilities We Admire Although classes and books are ways writers improve their skills, another way is to analyze the skills of writers we admire. Here are some writers we each turn to when looking for great examples of particular aspects of craft, such as dialogue, transitions, description and action. […]
Dancing for You – the Magic of Red Shoes by Debra H. Goldstein Red shoes have always had a magical place in literature and film. Whether dancing, as in The Red Shoes fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson and the classic movie, The Red Shoes, or being how Dorothy gets home in the Wizard of Oz […]
Red Shoes! The Stiletto Gang’s New Look– an Open Clicking Our Heels Letter to Our Readers Dear Readers, We adore you. It is a joy to know you habitually read our posts directly from our blog page, through an e-mail subscription, or from our Facebook page. Your comments telling us you appreciate the diversity of […]
Magic Moments for Readers and Writers by Debra H. Goldstein Sometimes a good thing only gets better. Last weekend, I was part of one of those perfect magic moments as a participant at Mystery in the Midlands Let me tell you about how it came together. A year ago, Jeffrey Deaver, as president of Mystery […]
Clicking Our Heels: Our Perfect Writing Atmospheres Some people must write in absolute silence in a special place. Some choose to write outdoors, others prefer to look through a window at water. Some must listen to music while others need food or beverages. The gang was surprised to discover what a variety of perfect writing […]
SOCK STORIES by Debra H. Goldstein Have you ever noticed the socks a person wears? Like the words a writers put on paper, each pair tells a story or evokes images or feelings. For example, my husband wears dark socks to his office because he has bought into the theory that they look more look […]
Clicking Our Heels: Shadowing Any Writer – Dead or Alive! The Stiletto Gang members admire each other, but for the fun of it, we all explained what writer (dead or alive) we’d want to shadow and why. Judy Penz Sheluk: Truman Capote when he was researching In Cold Blood. It was a different time, before […]
I’m delighted to have Diane Vallere, prolific writer and past-president of Sisters in Crime’s national board guest blogging for me today. Diane juggles well, but occasionally even she needs to go back to basics. – Debra Back to Basics by Diane Vallere It should come as no surprise to learn that fiction authors sometimes have […]
Clicking Our Heels – People We Respect Last month, we contemplated our favorite royals, but what about non-royal people we respect? Rich or poor, famous or not – these individuals are who the Stiletto Gang members most respect and why. A.B. Plum: Michelle Obama: quintessential mother and First Lady and apparently a damned good lawyer […]
The Meaning of Life by Debra H. Goldstein One of the first songs I remember learning as a child was Que Sera Sera – What Will Be Will Be. I always accepted it as the explanation for life. Today, three things made me reflect upon its application to what some may term “the long run.” […]