A Family Affair

A Family Affair by Mary Campisi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a story that has a happy ending no matter what happens, then this is the book for you. I am not a fan of happy endings in unbelievable circumstances, those kinds of stories just never did anything for me. I realize that most readers want a happy ending where everything is wrapped up nicely, but I'm more of a realist and I would rather not have everything work out good where it is not warranted, I would rather things end messy, if that is what the story calls for. And, I believe that this story would call for that.

It was slightly unbelievable to me that this girl would find out everything about her family, from her father's affair, to his secret daughter, to her Uncle and her mother, all in a matter of months and somehow find the love of her life, forgive everyone and live happily ever after. No, too far-fetched for my liking.

The potential for this story was there and the writing was good, the author has 8 more books in this series, perhaps the next one will be more to my liking.


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Snatched by Stephen Edger

Snatched by Stephen Edger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was offered free on Amazon and the description was appealing enough to prompt me to put it on my want to read shelve.

The story flowed at pace suiting the mystery of the novel, however, there were many times I felt too much description and background on characters were unnecessary and weighing the novel down. One part in particular was during the attach on Sarah, she passes out, the chapter ends and the next chapter begins with her father and all about how he didn’t want a mobile phone, his new girlfriend etc… None of this moved the story forward, in fact, I skimmed over most of those pages. There were several other errors throughout the story, but I don’t feel the need to point them out, the only thing I would offer this author it to be careful when writing dialogue. Throughout this novel I found the dialogue too exact, saying things that would be written, not said by a character.

There is also a fine line between fictional and reality and sometimes it is hard to distinguish between what a reader may believe and accept against what could be real and true. This novel pushes that barrier a little further than I could accept leaving me without the ability to immerse myself into the story. There were too many things that left me saying that all of this couldn't possibly happen to one person.


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Inheritance: A Psychological Mystery and Suspense Thriller by Thomas Wymark


What an intriguing read this book turned out to be. From the first page I was hooked trying to figure out what was really happening. The author had me guessing for quite some time about the mental status of the main character. I truly believed the book was heading in one direction, but half-way through the story took a sudden twist.

It’s interesting when you think you’ve figured out what is going to happen within a story to find out you were utterly wrong. The old saying, ‘nothing is what it seems,’ was on repeat in my mind while reading this novel.

The overuse of description at times had me skimming a few pages and I believe there is a fine line between too little description to move the story forward and not enough to visualize the story. The ability to balance the two becomes very difficult when writing a mystery novel. This novel was well written, quite an easy read with an ending sure to shock you.


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Blackwater Lake by Maggie James

OCTOBER 2015

Blackwater Lake is a short novella that engages readers from the first page until the last. A effectively woven story where the pace was spot on. Characters were well developed giving the readers a clear view into Matthew’s childhood and the relationship he had with his parents. Blackwater Lake was an engaging read that offered stunning scenery allowing the reader to step into the setting the author developed for the story. The plot structure pushed the story forward at just the right pace. The twists and turns throughout the story were unpredictable. Just when you think you have it figured out, Maggie twists the story in a new direction.

What a pleasant surprise this novel was and a pleasure to read. I give the author credit in telling an age old story in a brilliantly fresh way.

Thursday October 1 2015

Well, here I am again, a couple of months after my last blog and my writing career has been moving along. Maybe not a quickly as I hoped it would, but I'm still writing and enjoying it.

At the moment, I'm editing my first novel, which was written 5 years ago. I have sent it out to about 20 agents, but no interest as of yet. That brings me to now and after some deliberation I've decided to publish it myself. For the past several months I have been researching how to self publish and now I am confident that I am making the right decision.

There are so many things to know about self publishing and it's easy to get sidetracked with all the information and different ways to do it, but I believe I have found the best way for myself. Through this blog I plan on sharing my methods step by step and hopefully give my readers helpful information that may help in your own journeys.

To start, I decided to go over my book, once more, considering I hadn't look at it in a few years. And it was a good thing I did because I now know this was not my best work. Fresh eyes have given me the ability to see and understand how to make my book a wonderfully polished novel. I'm excited by the process once again and that for me is what writing is all about.

Therefore, Step 1, would be to make certain your novel, or any type of writing, is as perfect as you can make it before you try to do anything with it.

Next post, Step 2,  book covers.

Till next time....

M.I.A.

So, as you can tell I'm a horrible procrastinator. Starting this blog was the easy part. Writing everyday... not so much. But, I will try to keep up.

First, I wanted to let you know that I entered the Screen Craft Short Script contest with my short called Dreams. The result... nothing. Didn't even make it in the top 100. I was devastated! Well, not really. It was my first contest and I'm just feeling my way around that world. There are a couple of more that have peeked my interest, but I'm not sure if I'll have anything ready this year, we'll see.

I finally finished school and I'm graduating from a Film & Television Program, with honors. I have to say these three years have been so much fun that I would take the course all over again if I could.

My advice, which I would have to offer humbly because who am I really, would be to read, read and then read some more. The amount of knowledge I have gain from reading other people's experience, professionals offering whatever they can and the do's and don't's of script writing is invaluable and there is not short cut around any of this. Other bloggers say do the work, but I see as this... if it's something you love, it's never work.

Till next time...

Keep your chin up!

February 11, 2015

Day One

When it was suggested to me to document my writing I shrugged thinking why would anyone want to know, see or hear about how I write. It was also suggested to set up a camera to film myself as I write and I thought, yeah right... as if! I've since changed my mind about sharing the process. No, I won't be filming myself, but yes, I'm going to share my experience of writing as it unfolds. If for no other reason than to look back in a year and see how far I've come... or not! LOL

 One year is how long my experiment will last. Why one year? Well, I'm coming to the end of my college program. Four years ago, I returned to college at the age of 42 in order to start a new career in Film & Television. Now that I will be graduating in May I thought it would be a great time to start this blog.

My goals: To finish writing my books and scripts. To polish my writing enough to send out to agents and producers. To write about every step from the frustrating times when my writing is working or when my stuff is reject and the good times when writing is going smoothly and I sell my writing.

I hope you stick with me throughout the year, I look forward to having you here with me!