I had a discussion with an editor a few weeks ago and she told me about the hundreds of submissions she looks at every year. She glanced at me and said, “I can’t tell you how many of them start
Opening Scenes
Building Our Brand…One Book at a Time
I parked cars at the North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City yesterday. My Rotary Club does it to raise money for local non-profit organization projects as well as college scholarships for deserving local students. It was difficult to sneak
Why We Do This
My newest book, Graveyard Bay, launched on September 10th. In the past week, I’ve done several book signings, one book talk (with dinner), and was a featured author at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance show in South Carolina. Next weekend,
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
When we were children, my sister and I lived off and on with our grandparents. They resided in a cottage in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York on one of the smaller lakes. During the summer time, the
Writing From the POV of a Female Reporter
Geneva Chase is a hot mess Both Random Road and Darkness Lane are written from the first-person viewpoint of Geneva Chase…a woman. I’m male, I have both an X and a Y chromosome. “Really, you write as a woman?” I’m
Tom’s Halloween Blog
The month of October marks the beginning of autumn. The leaves are turning color, the days are getting shorter, the air is crisp, and Starbucks is serving their pumpkin-spice lattes. It’s also the month for Halloween…and when I particularly enjoy
Thomas Kies to host a workshop at NC Writers Conference
Why Host A Workshop? As a fiction writer, you know your characters need to leap off the page. They need to be sympathetic but flawed; believable but not identifiable as your Great Aunt Gladys. Writing unforgettable characters is a balancing