An Honest Assessment of Blank Pages

This is the strangest blank page I’ve seen in a decade. This is, without question, the strangest year of the decade. I sat down to write this and wondered if I’d remember how. I haven’t written a creative word in more than six months. Let’s see how I do. Most of my “gap year” revolves…

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Are We Pittsburgh Good?

If you watch NBC’s This Is Us, you might recognize the phrase, “You’re Pittsburgh good.” The words sum up a record producer’s take on Rebecca Pearson’s singing talent. Like most viewers, I lamented into my TV, “Come on, she’s way better than that! I’m a fan. I’d buy her record!” Of course, no matter how…

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Halloween Checklist

If Halloween has checklist, my boxes are filled: Old house on hill—√ Ghostly presence residing in house—√ Novels that include ghosts, psychics, and otherworldly elements—√,√, and √√ Black cat? Um… Check that one too! Say hi to timid Gus, the most miscast black cat, who just wants someone to assure him he’s loved. Halloween Ambivalence My boxes may…

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Psychic Presents

The other day, I spoke to a psychic. Card-carrying, bona fide. I know, right? Psychic phenomenon is my territory—or at least Aubrey Ellis’s, who I have the fun of channeling. This psychic is an author-friend first, someone I have known through the world of books, but long before I penned ethereal words. She has periodically turned…

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The Windfall of Publicity

My agent once told me, “You’ll succeed in this business in one of two ways: Your publisher will put a lot of money behind your book, or you’ll encounter some incredible windfall of publicity.” Regarding that windfall of publicity, I’ve gone from waiting for Oprah to call to waiting for Ellen to call to waiting…

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About That Tantrum…

Recently, I had a Facebook tantrum—the envy of any two-year-old. My fit was sparked by a reviewer whose words about my latest novel, Echo Moon, weren’t necessarily harsh, just a bland 3-star opinion. So what set me off? Why did this benign review dig like bamboo shoots under my nails? Amid the reviewer’s lackluster impressions…

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The Next Yellow Line

Number of published words in 2.5 years: 469,030. Hours at my desk? Impossible to calculate, and if sitting truly is the new smoking, the breathable air in my writing room must be in short supply. I don’t know what made me add those numbers up. Perhaps the odd predicament of arriving at this desk with…

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The Unlikeliness of Today

And Other Amazing Things Note: Posting a personal blog five days before your book launch is not a great marketing idea. That said, caution has been tossed to the wind. Today is a noteworthy day at the Spinella house. Middle daughter, Jamie, graduates law school. Any parent would be proud. I mean, short of having…

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How Far Will Readers Reach?

This post ponders how far readers are willing to go. I might not have touched this topic when Foretold was released last fall. But since then, with Echo Moon out one week from today, I have been scratching my head over a reader idiosyncrasy—one that came full circle with a couple of Facebook surveys. Recently, two…

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