Guest Blogger for Terry O'Dell

On Tuesday, August 19th, I'm the guest blogger on Terry O'Dell's blg.  Find out what the strangest thing I did in the name of research, what kitchen utensil I would be, and what's on my desk?  If  you like to read about the writing life, this will be the place.  See you then!  Terry's Place
And more news:  My latest novel, Festival Madness, is only 99 cents as an ebook on Amazon from August 17 - August 24th.  Writing as Judith Copek.  The novel is partially set at the Burning Man Festival as well as in Boston and the Adirondaks,  and in honor of Burning Man I'm offering an ebook everyone can afford--one week only.

Stop by Terry's blog and grab a copy of Festival Madness for your e-reader and we'll be BFF.

Sorry to have neglecting this blog, but I've been writing and more writing and hosting endless company and cooking up a storm and gardening--all not conducive  to blogging.   You can also read my Proust blog at Reading Proust in Foxborough.  

How Novelists Get Their Ideas

It ain't easy coming up with a setting, plot and characters for a full length novel.  Sometimes when people say, 'that would make a good book' they are talking of something that is missing either a beginning, middle or an end.  Or that contains no conflict to drive the plot.  Maybe the setting is blah, the characters ordinary and the plot completely unoriginal or derivative.  You gotta do better than that.  You need a hero with some flaws, a villain with some good points, a setting that puts the reader right into the book, and a story, a good story.

Tomorrow on  Sheila Boneham, I discuss how I came to write World of Mirrors and some of the decisions, ideas and research that contributed to the novel.  Do take a look.   Here's  quick synopsis of World of Mirrors to pique your interest. 

A glamorous high-tech consultant has agreed to retrieve state-of-the art software in East Germany with a colleague and ex-lover who keeps her in the dark. As she navigates a landscape of sociopaths and unrehabilitated Stasi, Zara realizes she's in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man and no exit strategy.