It Takes a Thief

Later that day the offending book was no longer available. I guess having the US Government as a client and a team of lawyers at your beck and call makes a difference.

Research, Write, Research, Write…

Research doesn't always go the way we plan, though. Back in the mid-90s I was writing a sci-fi novel set three hundred years in the future when sex work would be legal and respected. In order to give my character, Jazmine, an authentic voice, I travelled to Nevada to interview a sex worker in a legal brothel.

Praying I’m Not Prescient

Back in 2011 I wrote a short Story titled "The Death of God". I certainly don't want it to be prescient. I offer it up it here (only 480 words) because some ideas have been around for a while and I'm certainly not the first to play with this particular one.   Let's all #StaySafe....

Telling Your Story: As Fact or Fiction?

You've lived an interesting/horrible/painful/amazing life and you want to share your story with the world in order to entertain/warn/help others. Cool! But you need to ask yourself a simple question (or two) first. The answers won't be simple, but the questions are. Will you be telling your story as a fictional tale? Or will you...

GUEST BLOGGER: H. E. Roulo: Plague Master Series – World Building in the PLAGUE MASTER Universe

Today is the first-ever Guest Blogger here at The Tao of Tim! Please welcome, from HorrorAddicts.net, my friend and fellow author, H.E. Roulo... As authors, part of our job is world-building. For contemporary stories, it’s often easy to drop in the occasional detail and let readers imagine how characters dress, the style of cell phone,...

Genre-Hopping on One Foot

Hi. My name is Tim. I'm a writer with a problem. Hi Tim. My problem may seem simple to some, irrelevant to others, and overwhelming to one or two of you. You see, I can't pick just one genre to write in. So far I have published novels in Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Fantasy;...

Life is What Happens When You’re Making Other Plans

Yes, I know it has been awhile since I've posted any words of wit and wisdom here, but it's not like I haven't been writing, I just haven't been writing here. I finished the first book in my retiree mystery series (it's being read by an agent at the time of writing) and started the...

I’m Not a Machine!

Some people are under the impression that I've written all three novels recently. Not at all. The fantasy took more than three years to write and was finished last summer. The thriller took over three years to write and was just finished last week. The mystery took six months to write and was just finished...

Write, dammit, write!

Okay. A short note. I've just sent two manuscripts off to agents for consideration, and one is ready, willing, and able to go off to a publisher for a look-see. A psychological thriller, a mystery, and a fantasy quest. That means it's time.... to finish the next one, which is really the first one. The...

Mostly about Beta Readers

I had hoped for a big weekend of writing but decided that naps were important, too. I managed to clear the 70,000-word hurdle, with 5 days left to reach 80,000, though. Yah. No problemo. One of the harder parts of writing the first draft of a mystery novel is fighting the temptation to go back...