DONIS CASEY: Write Errant

If you participate in or read authors’ chat rooms or web sites, you will occasionally see the term BSP used. This is shorthand for “Blatant Self Promotion”. Which Yours Truly would NEVER do.

Okay, that’s a lie. When you’re a novelist, (Unless you’re J.K. Rowling or Steven King and your publisher promotes the heck out of you even though when you’re that famous, you don’t need for them to do it because you’re also rich as Croesus, not like all us midlist authors who are barely getting by. But I’m not bitter.) you can’t afford to behave in your normal sweetly retiring manner and exercise your natural modesty. No, you have to learn to toot your own horn as well, and hopefully, as inoffensively as you can. The best of all worlds is if someone toots it for you, and you can plaster their words of praise all over everything you put your hand to.

I post excerpts of my reviews on my book pages (see links to the right) among other places – the best ones, of course, though I’ve been lucky not to have many iffy ones. But a couple of days ago I was privileged to find some lovely words of praise for my blogging. This was posted on the chat room for members of Women Writing the West, of which I am one, by a writer I very much admire by the name of Irene Bennett Brown. Irene is the author of several wonderful historical novels adult and juvenile, the latest of which is titled The Bargain, by Riveredge Books. Her web address is www.irenebennett brown.com.

Here’s what Irene had to say:

I love this comment by Donis Casey about our efforts to get details
right in our writings. (I took this from the Type M For Murder blog
and hope that’s permissible.) She says: “Nothing is harder than
trying to get every little detail right. You can’t get it all
perfectly correct, but if you can just make the reader buy…now,
that’s a skill!”

Amen to that! And if you’re reading this Donis, I want to add that
Saturday is my favorite day of the week, specifically because I get
to read your Saturday posts on Type M For Murder and Fatal Foodies.
You never fail to educate me, make me smile, and send me to my own
writing with a high heart.

Thanks, Irene. Your comments are very much appreciated.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Writer Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.