tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27175916996678162632012-01-29T06:00:00.613-05:00Writing. Writing on writing. Writing on writing on writing.Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.comBlogger2541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-41556326512434683942012-01-29T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-29T06:00:00.635-05:00

I've been pondering this question for a few weeks. Originally, my plan was simply to write for the sheer joy of writing. When I started making a little money, I veered slightly in the direction of trying to write stories I thought might be commercial. I like those stories less than all of the others, even the early ones where I had no clue what I was doing. Someone recently suggested that I

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-41618310109577109742012-01-27T06:00:00.015-05:002012-01-27T06:00:07.630-05:00

Helena Ritchey hits another home run over a the Acorn Stash.  Important post for those putting Humpty together again. Leo Babauta on Habits that Crush Us. I have always known that bad habits were coping mechanisms, but I thought my biggest enemy was fear.  I think Leo's has hit a strong chord. For me, personally,  Enemy Number One is Boredom. I like to tell people that I am never bored, and I'm

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-72994951773791857302012-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-25T06:00:03.350-05:00

I'm conflicted about this book. I read it because a blogger I like indicated that it was thought provoking. It certainly is that. Human cloning was not something I had ever really thought about, but this book made clear to me what a nightmare it could be if it were to be done. (Which it no doubt will be at some point. Scientists seem to have the belief that because something can be done it should

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-62547863748837600742012-01-22T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T06:00:05.647-05:00

Lately, I've noticed that the underlying themes of my stories is changing a little. The first several novels I wrote dealt with the following kinds of themes: What happens when a character's life implodes without warning Dealing with the death or disablement of a parent Dealing with divorce  Dealing with an empty nest Falling in or out of love at an inconvenient time and/or with an

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-66424077136075035722012-01-20T06:00:00.001-05:002012-01-20T06:00:06.932-05:00

Every single post by Ingrid Schaffenburg. I do not know how someone so young could be so wise, but this woman has blown me away with every post she's published. I am so grateful I found her so soon after she started her marvelous blog. I feel as though I got in on the ground floor of a blog that is utterly magic. This post by Barbara Hannah Grufferman is one I will refer to often. I read the

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-6293003704378943622012-01-18T06:00:00.064-05:002012-01-18T06:00:12.475-05:00

I read this entire e-book in one sitting! It is absolute proof that a book doesn't have to be perfectly edited to be a great read.  It appears to have been formatted for print publication, which led to some real formatting issues in the Kindle edition, but once the story grabbed me I quit worrying about the formatting and simply read as fast as my eyes would go. Seneca Hunt is a magazine writer

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-79886250351847596732012-01-15T06:00:00.003-05:002012-01-15T06:00:04.407-05:00

The blogs on the subject of blogging say that you should distinguish yourself. Offer something unique and different that nobody else is doing. That's tough for a middle aged Boomer woman writing about strong women. There are a lot of us out there in cyberspace, and even more of us on the ground.  It's hard to be unique when you're part of a herd! I've been studying the stats on my blog and

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-52550317005486131642012-01-11T06:00:00.030-05:002012-01-11T06:00:06.455-05:00

I read this book on a weekend while attending a destination wedding. That turned out to be a hilarious irony.  Lucy is 34 and desperate to get married and start a family. Her long-time boyfriend dumps her and she decides to let her friends pick her next beau because she so obviously sucks at picking men.  Her best friend, a supermodel, is about to marry a rich guy (who so doesn't deserve her!!!

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-90408687485422542742012-01-08T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-08T06:00:07.948-05:00

In 2009, when I decided to self-publish, the tide of opinion on the writing blogs was that authors who chose to self-publish were some combination of:  (a) inferior writers, (b) lazy,  (c) too arrogant and/or impatient to play by the rules.  Traditionally published authors smirked. Agents harked about the importance of letting "the process" work. Publishers, as far as I could tell, were evidently

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-7285798423963886372012-01-04T06:00:00.038-05:002012-01-04T06:00:03.207-05:00

This is the first of a series, set in a mythical place that seems suspiciously like Australia. An ancient legend about the coming of "The Herald" appears to be about to come true. The people of Godsland are under attack from a foreign nation that wants to destroy the Herald because they fear it will attempt to destroy them. The Herald turns out to appear in the guise of a young girl. She

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-79237153936664020522012-01-01T10:28:00.000-05:002012-01-01T10:28:28.665-05:00

The first thing I saw when I stepped on the beach this morning was a lone dolphin swimming north, straight and fast. I stopped to watch him (her?), smiling. I consider dolphins heralds of good fortune. Even if they do not exactly bring good luck, they never fail to make me happy, simply watching their graceful movements and what always appear to be happy faces. An hour later, as I was

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-47342867303595533292012-01-01T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-01T06:00:08.346-05:00

I don't know where the past year went!  It was a busy and productive year for me. I'm grateful to my readers and fellow authors who've given me so much encouragement along the way. 2012 is starting out with my back up against a wall as far as this blog goes. I typically write my blog posts and book reviews weeks in advance.  This fall I spent so much time writing new fiction and editing various

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-91170200145767704012011-12-28T06:00:00.033-05:002011-12-28T06:00:05.188-05:00

Ray Reid is in jail in Florida on a trumped up murder charge. He has nowhere to turn but to his sister, Sandy. The problem is, she hates his guts and hangs up on him. Blood being thicker than water, against her better judgment she agrees to go to Florida and try to find out what happened to the senator who was running for governor but who is now dead. Sandy is uniquely suited for that purpose

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-32589210083347060412011-12-25T06:00:00.003-05:002011-12-25T06:00:01.195-05:00

I can't believe another Christmas has arrived. The year is almost over. 2011 has been a good year for me. I have achieved something of a balance between work, writing and reading.  I'm not writing quite as much as I had been, but I'm reading again, which has been wonderful. My little experiment with self-publishing has panned out much better than I expected, which has been a kind of mixed

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-18278871356841052242011-12-21T06:00:00.036-05:002011-12-21T06:00:07.113-05:00

Set in contemporary Australia, this book focuses on the romance between Tom Bradley, the fabulously successful CEO of a cosmetics empire, and Ellen Jackson, a hotel maid whose universe is turned upside down when Tom discovers her, turns her into a model who is "the face" of his company, and then courts her relentlessly. Their romance is gossip column fodder throughout the country.  Enter Colleen

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-17640435569207599662011-12-18T06:00:00.001-05:002011-12-18T06:00:05.499-05:00

I have delayed publishing my work through the Kindle Direct Publishing in part because I hoped that Smashwords would close a deal with Amazon. It does not appear that will happen any time soon, because Amazon has no real incentive to distribute for Smashwords when it operates its own system for publishing e-books in the Kindle Store. Meanwhile, I'm missing out on a huge and expanding market.  

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-3023488235707109102011-12-14T06:00:00.069-05:002011-12-14T06:00:04.254-05:00

I read this book because I love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. This one is straight historical fiction with no time travel involved. It's a formula historical romance; I mean that in a good way. Historical romance has rules and this author sticks to them. While it is nowhere close to as sexy as the Jamie and Claire books, it is romantic and sensuous in an old-fashioned kind of way that I

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-27565977634941094612011-12-11T06:00:00.004-05:002011-12-11T07:26:20.563-05:00

My newest novel, Sisters,  is now available for purchase on Smashwords and in the Kindle Store.  It will soon be available from other distributors as well.  This story about a group of nuns who undertake the absolutely unthinkable, under the courageous leadership of their remarkable Mother Superior. Here is a sample from the first Chapter: Charlotte Rose Jefferson was born at home on her

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-61242643930025082502011-12-07T06:00:00.073-05:002011-12-07T06:00:10.263-05:00

Samantha Khouri is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants who run a failing grocery store.  She has slaved for seven years as an associate in a blue-stocking law firm in Richmond, Virginia, and believes she is on the brink of being made partner.  She is wrong. Carter Pierce is a partner in the firm who makes millions, but his wife and daughters are spending it faster than he can haul it in. Living

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-50757296983729354972011-12-04T06:00:00.044-05:002011-12-04T06:00:01.266-05:00

It is amazing how often I have "randomly" (ahem) encountered bloggers or authors just when I needed to hear what they have to say.  I recently came across Kristen Lamb's blog via a link from another blog. (Unfortunately I don't remember which one, so I can't even say thanks.) Her post on not editing while drafting got me through NaNoWriMo this year.  Her writing style is breezy and fun. Her

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-20514531752382060702011-11-30T06:00:00.025-05:002011-11-30T06:00:01.224-05:00

This year I came in to NaNo feeling unprepared and not quite as excited as I had been in previous years. Evidently that was a good way for me to approach the event. I had my guard down, which left me open to whatever might happen.  Every year I've learned something valuable. This year I learned a lot about procrastination (which is not a malady to which I'm ordinarily prone) and about drafting

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-86939524050262454062011-11-26T06:00:00.358-05:002011-11-26T10:57:30.741-05:00

This is not a book review. I'm sure this book (and the movie) have been reviewed a gazillion times. This is a raw and unexpurgated description of  my experience of reading the book. Keep in mind: I don't just read a book like this: I inhabit it. And then I think about it. And then I rewrite it in my head, the way I want it to be. Spoiler alert: do not read this if you haven't read the book and

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-26026922347939079282011-11-23T06:00:00.008-05:002011-11-23T06:00:10.144-05:00

Last November, I received my first royalty check from Smashwords.  Strangers were actually paying to read my stories! I was so blown away, I made a copy of the check and framed it. Each quarter since then I have received a royalty check that was larger than the previous one. I haven't earned enough money to quit my day job (and I probably never will), but I have earned enough money to upgrade my

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-78072339585020956152011-11-19T19:36:00.000-05:002011-11-21T04:48:18.571-05:00

The last two weeks have been dicey to say the least. I got off to a great start: I had written 29,000 words by the end of the first weekend in November.  Then the story veered off course from where my outline thought it should go. After that, procrastination set in. I didn't want to work on it because I didn't know where it was headed. But, I took Kristen Lamb's advice and refused to edit it. I

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-60999884394515898362011-11-16T06:00:00.004-05:002011-11-16T06:00:01.489-05:00

Recently, I have been immersing myself in reading indie eBooks. More often than not, I have been pleasantly surprised and, occasionally, blown away by the quality of the stories. The quality of the editing has been spotty.  I know that typos are one of the most frequent criticisms of my eBooks. I have an eagle eye when it comes to spotting typos in other work of others. It is extremely hard for

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-42135927300047280892011-11-09T06:00:00.005-05:002011-11-09T06:00:15.086-05:00

A few years ago, after I got serious about writing, I started querying agents to try to get my work published. It was a demoralizing and time-consuming effort. Worse, the more I learned about the traditional publishing process, the less I desired to be published in that way. For one thing, it is a horribly time consuming and unfair process, and it is very bad for the environment. It is costly and

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-40154425132724916722011-11-02T06:00:00.105-04:002011-11-02T06:00:09.980-04:00

Disclaimer: The author asked me to review this book, and  I accepted a free copy. This is not a book I would have read based on the blurb. I am so grateful that the author asked me to review it, because I was actually blown away by it. Ms. Grammar Snob will have her say, so I'll get this out of the way at the outset: The book could benefit from at least one more pass with a blue pencil (or

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-31250599141306556242011-10-30T06:00:00.013-04:002011-10-30T06:00:04.119-04:00

November is almost here! I am putting away my Kindle and preparing for my favorite few weeks of the year.  I may occasionally stick my head up and give a report on how I'm doing. I have a few posts prepared in advance so there will be something posted here at least once a week. Except for the one scheduled for this coming Wednesday, book reviews will be temporarily suspended because I won't

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-29075036896366706342011-10-26T06:00:00.074-04:002011-10-26T06:00:10.708-04:00

Disclaimer:  I read this book at the author's request, and accepted a free copy of the eBook in exchange for  a review.  In terms of genre, the book is an action romance. Sophia Dubonnet Smith is a magazine writer who is driven to move her career to the next level. She is recovering from a messy divorce, and not in the market for a man.  Out of the blue, she is invited to a remote Eastern

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-75120299822440985502011-10-23T06:00:00.000-04:002011-10-23T06:00:09.907-04:00

I lugged virtually every book I'd ever bought around with me from move to move until a dozen years ago, when my family moved to Florida. At that point, I got rid of hundreds of books, including all of my old college text books which I saved for reasons I can't remember. After we moved here, I continued to do most of my reading from the library, but over the years I did fill a large double closet

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-7415964748002856732011-10-19T06:00:00.073-04:002011-10-19T06:00:05.181-04:00

Tanaquill is a fairy princess who is betrothed to a fairy prince whom she despises. She pays a visit to the human realm to get away from her fears and depression over her impending nuptials. Shortly after her arrival, she attends a party and meets a Shapeshifter, who may (or may not) be one of the last of his kind. He is desperately seeking a female Shapeshifter for a mate. He mistakes Tanaquill

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-81903482120548706072011-10-16T06:00:00.003-04:002011-10-16T06:00:02.707-04:00

Privacy in the World of Silk I have generally chosen not to worry about privacy online, on the theory that there is truly no such thing. I try to assume that people can find out pretty much everything about me, if they're determined to do so.  (Just as burglars could break into my house if they wanted to.) I refuse to live in fear. On the one hand, it is a little disconcerting to think that

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-86597688468193987262011-10-12T06:00:00.002-04:002011-10-12T06:00:04.509-04:00

After losing his son in a drowning accident and losing his wife to drugs, other men and her grief, Ned ("Dog") Ogilvie takes off in his camper in an effort to overcome his grief by fishing.  Two years after the accident, he finds himself in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where a murder victim turns up in the bed of his camper.  Most of the locals think he killed the man, although it seems that

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-53150711794930945462011-10-09T06:00:00.011-04:002011-10-09T06:00:04.112-04:00

"How to Read More: A Lover's Guide" This is a road map to increasing the time you spend reading. I have actually been using most of these techniques for the last year or so. Once I decided it was time to start reading again, my practice grew sort of organically.  This is the best summary of those techniques I've ever seen.  By a writer who loves to read as much as I do.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-26358973590443898062011-10-05T06:00:00.004-04:002011-10-05T18:10:58.254-04:00

Following her mother's death a young woman moves from Albuquerque to San Francisco to find the father she's never met. Not only does she meet him, she ends up working for him, but does not tell him that she is his daughter. Almost immediately after her arrival, she meets a sexy British photographer at a party and almost loses her head.Cinderella-like, she runs away, but he turns out to be a new

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-88436538944671154962011-09-28T06:00:00.002-04:002011-09-28T06:00:14.540-04:00

It is late 19th Century in rural New Zealand. Amy Leith is fifteen years, and she has been managing the household by herself since her grandmother's death. Suddenly one day, her father comes home with a new bride from Aukland. The troubles that ensue, from verbal and emotional abuse heaped upon her by her wicked stepmother to what amounts to repeated statutory rape by the stepmother's visiting

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-6102330370617192392011-09-25T06:00:00.003-04:002011-09-25T06:00:06.600-04:00

I sort of knew this would happen! One of the reasons I delayed buying an e-reader for so long was because I was afraid that I'd get carried away with it. I was right. I am a lifelong biblioholic. Before I got married, I spent almost as much money on books as I did on clothes (and I spent a LOT on clothes). When my daughter was born and I decided to be a stay-at-home mother, I vowed to quit buying

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-43388355485834064842011-09-21T06:00:00.001-04:002011-09-21T06:00:00.375-04:00

This was the first e-book I downloaded for my new Kindle. In many ways, it's a lot like some of the stories I write, although it is written from a Christian perspective (without being preachy).  I typically don't read Christian fiction, but I'm glad I read this one because I really liked the story. The underlying theme is that no sin is unforgivable, and that love really can heal a broken heart.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-51997750496891296842011-09-18T09:14:00.000-04:002011-09-18T09:14:06.833-04:00

I've been self-publishing e-books for over a year now, but had continued to read exclusively p-books, mostly from the library. I recently received a royalty payment from Smashwords that was sufficient to pay for an e-reader. I chose to buy a Kindle. As I was reading the owner's manual while the device was charging, I felt very much the same as I did the first time I logged on to the Internet.  I

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-62334484837650963072011-09-17T12:07:00.001-04:002011-09-17T13:38:57.630-04:00

I have been unhappy with my personal website for a long time, but never took the time to do anything about it, because I didn't know what to do. Blogging is fun and provides a lot of good information, but I find it hard to find things on blogs that have been around for a while. I also often feel as though I'm coming into a conversation in the middle and it takes me a while to figure out what

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-47015571769190379372011-09-14T06:00:00.023-04:002011-09-14T06:00:00.357-04:00

Due to delays at the airport on my recent trip, I had to buy a second book when I finished The Rembrandt Affair. I picked this one up in the airport, mainly because the cover touted the protagonist as a great new American thriller hero. After Gabriel Allon, I was in the mood for another Alpha male hero to keep me occupied while flying the unfriendly skies. It was an engaging story, although I

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-54808257650079399752011-09-07T06:00:00.061-04:002011-09-07T06:00:01.529-04:00

I bought this book to read on the airplane during a recent trip.  It was absolutely perfect airplane reading!  I was hooked by the opening line: By coincidence it was Timothy Peel who first learned that the stranger had returned to Cornwall.  At first the story appeared to be an intriguing mystery having to do with a murder and a stolen masterpiece. The only person who is likely to be able to

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-50505386174523353852011-08-31T06:00:00.002-04:002011-08-31T06:00:09.654-04:00

I seem to be working my way through Sandra Brown's entire oeuvre. This one is similar to Brown's other novels: fast-paced story with both violence and sex, but not too much of either; lots of twists and turns in the story, with surprises galore; zippy dialogue; strong women  who are in danger; and -- cowboys. This was  particularly fun in that it features a mother and a daughter who both become

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-50855009490742657622011-08-27T09:30:00.002-04:002011-09-18T08:54:16.440-04:00

I've always had a fascination with the weather. Storms fascinate me. No storms amaze me more than tropical cyclones: from the beauty of the satellite photos of the monster storms from space, to the up close and personal experience of trying to cross a parking lot during a dry spell between squalls and then getting  hit with a curtain of water as the next band of rain swoops in. The quality of the

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-42000275158522250132011-08-24T06:00:00.006-04:002011-08-24T06:00:08.241-04:00

In some ways this is a formulaic chick lit "girlfriends rock (even into middle age)" kind of novel. It's a story about four law school chums who are now in their fifties. One of them is being considered for an appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court. The girlfriends gather to support her. During the confirmation hearing a terrible secret from their past is raised that may torpedo both her

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-55580614397885505342011-08-21T10:18:00.000-04:002011-08-21T10:18:10.248-04:00

Somebody recently found my blog with the search: trashy sexy beach book.  I think that probably pointed to one of my reviews from my vacation reading, but quite honestly, that describes a genre I love to read. I've been noodling ideas for my next novel. I think I'll write a trashy sexy beach book!

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-75148752206833140212011-08-17T06:00:00.003-04:002011-08-17T06:00:00.576-04:00

This is one of those novels that I think it may take some time to digest. It's beautifully written, and has a wonderful tone of darkness that feels as though the dawn is near. The central mystery has to do with the sudden death of a British diplomat in Bonn. His wife and three children return to a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, believing that his death was accidental. The British

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-51017248495492255052011-08-10T06:00:00.034-04:002011-08-10T06:00:13.220-04:00

This is the last of my 6-for-$1.00 thrift store vacation books. (So, if I dropped it in the pool, no problem.) I actually bought this one for my daughter, but I ran out of other books and she hadn't gotten to it yet. The fact that Candace Bushnell is the author of Sex and the City was not a selling point for me. I don't identify with that demographic.  I read the book, however, and found myself

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-59657230004535989202011-08-09T06:00:00.004-04:002011-08-09T06:00:17.414-04:00

"You" is supposed to be the most important word in a blog.  "You", Dear Reader, are supposed to be the focus of this blog. I'm supposed to give you something of value that you can't get anyplace else. I'm supposed to offer you something unique and worth spending your valuable time reading. Some bloggers provide educational information: Writing Do's and Don't's;  Links to interesting sites;

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-12527332745161828602011-08-03T06:00:00.027-04:002011-08-03T06:00:22.345-04:00

This novel takes place in the Gold Coast of Long Island, among a privileged class of people who, as far as my world is concerned, might as well be from Mars. The main character is recently returned from a ten year self-imposed exile in England after his now-ex-wife murdered a Mafia don with whom she was having an affair.  He resumes a relationship with said ex-wife and they decide to remarry, to

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-49858295348228390742011-07-31T11:17:00.001-04:002011-07-31T11:17:55.043-04:00

Today I am celebrating receiving my latest royalty payment from Smashwords!  I don't make a lot of money, but the point is that enough people are buying my eBooks to actually generate some income. That's huge for me. Thanks to Mark Coker and all the folks at Smashwords who do such an awesome job. I absolutely cannot imagine how they manage such a huge undertaking with so relatively few glitches

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-87980531735224740422011-07-27T06:00:00.034-04:002011-07-27T06:00:04.448-04:00

I previously reviewed The Whole Truth by this author.  I bought this book for vacation reading. It was a  pretty good way to spend an afternoon at the pool: Handsome, sexy, and very damaged hero bests numerous super bad-ass bad guys while sort of falling for a psychiatrist who finds out some significant information about Our Hero under hypnosis, information she chooses to withhold from him.  She

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-8706442178244674372011-07-24T09:18:00.000-04:002011-07-24T09:18:25.766-04:00

A Perfect Saturday Night A full tummy from a fabulous dinner I cooked for myself. A cozy nook, with a comfy chair and good lighting.  A gripping tearjerker novel. Rain on the window panes. 

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-50290365370529428972011-07-23T10:38:00.000-04:002011-07-23T10:38:53.506-04:00

Cappuccino Gelato Frost growing on the outside of the container as it softens. Looking like cold lava, melting in the bowl. Smooth, sweet and silky in my mouth. The perfect treat.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-71067186592544253752011-07-20T06:00:00.034-04:002011-07-20T06:00:04.204-04:00

I bought this at a used book sale. I was going on vacation and wanted to stock up on cheap books I wouldn't mind dropping in the pool. My last experience with Brown's work led me to think she'd be a good author to invite on my vacation. I wasn't wrong. Actually, I liked this book better than Smashcut. I don't know why, really. It strained credulity in many places and occasionally lapsed into

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-51215087275675819742011-07-18T19:25:00.000-04:002011-07-18T19:25:44.315-04:00

July 18 -  Heart-pounding, mouth-drying, palm-sweating, shaking-in-my-shoes anxiety, rendering me mentally paralyzed and emotionally spent.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-47752283999606380672011-07-17T06:00:00.007-04:002011-07-17T06:00:09.367-04:00

This week was a frenzy of activity and (mostly negative) emotion. The main thing I focused on was not having a breakdown. By Friday, all I could do was curl up on the couch watching television, and  feeling exhausted, drained and empty. I think of that as "desert time".  Desert time feels horrible when I'm in it, but it's usually very fruitful for me emotionally and spiritually.  It's as though

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-15349469628969039322011-07-13T06:00:00.023-04:002011-07-13T06:00:04.870-04:00

This is a very short book, a work of literary fiction. I bought it at a used book sale because the cover blurb indicated that Lightman's books are all very different. He doesn't stick to a genre.  I like that. The story is about a college professor who returns to his college for a class reunion. He's a kind of misfit in a world of other misfits all of whom think they are "normal". The novel

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-67466761987911737112011-07-07T06:00:00.000-04:002011-07-07T06:00:12.304-04:00

July 5  Emerging from an over-air-conditioned office building into the stifling heat and humidity of late afternoon in Florida -- and feeling the daily anticipation of an evening walk on the beach. July 6  Arriving at the drawbridge just as the light changed to green, and feeling a tiny twinge of regret that I missed the opportunity to sit on the bridge for a few minutes and enjoy the early

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-72228797892232319672011-07-06T06:00:00.031-04:002011-09-18T07:50:43.888-04:00

When I ponder the question with my too-organized, control-freak right brain, I think that it is better to outline a story before starting to write it. Work out some of the backstory. Build the characters. Figure out a little of the plot. I think I should work all that stuff out before I begin to write the first draft. Sometimes I do that. I have written several novels based on a pretty solid

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-23475702249287281802011-07-04T17:27:00.000-04:002011-07-04T17:27:15.386-04:00

July 3 - Watching my beautiful daughter walk down the stairs to embark on a Holiday adventure.  She flashed the same megawatt smile she's had since her baby teeth came in. Her post-vacation tan is golden and the hot pink shirt showed it off to the max. The thing I loved the most was the large pink artificial flower behind her ear. It said, "Hey, world,  I am am here to have fun! Let's get on with

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-19940599879221446732011-07-04T09:31:00.000-04:002011-07-04T09:31:52.188-04:00

Second Chances is available for purchase on Smashwords. Virginia Travers is a widowed school teacher whose passion is martial arts.  Parker Wilkes is a soon-to-be-retired Marine who is worried about how he will cope with civilian life after more than three decades in the Corps. Against their respective better judgements, they allow themselves to be talked into taking a Caribbean cruise. 

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-18347638819780187772011-07-02T10:06:00.000-04:002011-07-02T10:06:43.541-04:00

Fiona Robyn has proposed a challenge for bloggers to notice (and appreciate) one small thing every day in July. See her Facebook page here.  I doubt that I will have time to post something every day in July, but here are my first two: July 1 - The surface of the river in an unusually still afternoon, like mercury under the silver sky. July 2 - The glimpse of a dolphin fin in the blue-pink ocean

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-84867954898452152712011-06-29T06:00:00.002-04:002011-06-29T06:00:06.511-04:00

I liked the concept of this book a lot. Clinch does a good job with characterization. I like how the characters emerge a little at a time. The level of the narrative is amazing in places, but I gave up on the book without finishing it, because it was just too taxing -- for summer reading anyway. My main beef with book was that it had too many narrators. The book Bloodroot had a lot of narrators,

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-6355812723800955172011-06-22T06:00:00.037-04:002011-06-22T06:00:02.518-04:00

Read this book! This woman is a seriously fabulous writer. The book is a series of semi-related short stories.  The setting is Fort Hood, Texas, anytime between about 2003 and the present. In razor-like prose it presents a series of vignettes (some of which are almost tableaux) of brief episodes in the lives of the soldiers and their families before, during and after deployment to combat in Iraq

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-26688717736655964012011-06-15T06:00:00.053-04:002011-06-15T06:00:09.121-04:00

This is a historical novel that is an imaginary riff on a historical mystery.  Denis Diderot (the primary editor of the Encyclopedia that more or less let the rulers of the Church and State in France know that the Enlightenment was here to stay) had some kind of relationship with a woman named Sophie Volland. History doesn't know who she was or what was the nature of their relationship.  Prange

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-31848238183111799572011-06-11T15:39:00.001-04:002011-09-18T08:38:20.857-04:00

Because I am so busy, in order to carve out time for my writing, I have curtailed a great deal of my online reading. I miss keeping up with my favorite bloggers and sites on writing and photography and politics, but choices have to be made and writing comes first (after the job that pays the bills, anyway). These days, I just scan and delete most of the e-zines and newsletters that I subscribe to

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-35618461036983275872011-06-08T06:00:00.004-04:002011-06-08T06:00:05.159-04:00

This is the kind of literary fiction book I generally do not like. It's an award winning book and it's little self-important, in that it kind of has an undertone of I am a very serious piece of literature. Often, I give up on books that seem to think they are so important. I did not give up on this one because I liked the voice of the primary narrator from the very beginning.  I liked his kind

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-48616210645544675432011-06-01T06:00:00.003-04:002011-09-18T07:42:23.917-04:00

This is one of those fast-paced thrillers that I think of as "airplane books"..... not to be confused with beach reading. Beach reading is trashy, sexy and/or humorous. Beach books are the kind of books that allow for a million interruptions, without destroying the experience of the book.  Airplane books are thrillers/suspense/mystery novels that engage the my attention so intently I can ignore

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-51611125462237962672011-05-30T13:10:00.000-04:002011-05-30T13:10:32.147-04:00

My novels have -- somewhat to my surprise -- often featured characters who are veterans or active duty military, and their families.  My parents' gonzo, WWII, lifetime VFW-member patriotism that I thought was silly when I was a little kid, down right embarrassing when I was a teenager and kind of irrelevant as a young woman, appears to have been lying dormant in me. At mid-life, when I was old

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-24266721162486104522011-05-18T06:00:00.002-04:002011-05-18T06:00:06.059-04:00

I have been fascinated by Judaism most of my adult life, in part because of studying the Old Testament and in part because I read Singer's novel Sosha  when I was in my twenties. I was mesmerized. I picked  up Shadows on the Hudson in a used book store a couple of months ago, but put it aside because I was busy with other things.  When I finally did get around to reading it, I found it slow going

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-38915325548821586472011-05-14T13:44:00.001-04:002011-09-18T08:59:29.649-04:00

Lately, I've been working very hard at a lot of things, other than writing. My day job is crazy. I've been busy with some social activities (busy, for me anyway). I've had some technical computer issues, which has required hours of work, but I think I have it straightened out now. Summertime at the beach is not the time for writing 50,000 words a month. That happens in the fall and winter. In

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-63475733095632647862011-04-29T19:47:00.001-04:002011-09-18T08:49:37.885-04:00

I have been doing battle with my Muse for the last couple of weeks. I don't know why I do that. I always lose. She's feeling lazy these days, which means I'm not in the mood to write. I want to be in the mood to write! The last two novels I drafted came out practically whole, and I had such fun writing them, I want to do it again! I feel ready to go again.  My Muse, however, is not ready.  She's

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-18533908889470229212011-04-21T20:24:00.001-04:002011-09-18T07:51:11.446-04:00

Lately I've been thinking about the technology of writing. The writing blogs both laud and lament the fact that everybody under the sun is self-publishing e-books, because they can. I think that's a good thing.  Yes, it means there's a lot of crap being published. (But, there always was crap that somehow made it through the traditional publishing gauntlet.)  It also means that some really good

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-21800578413386352172011-04-13T06:00:00.059-04:002011-09-18T08:10:33.069-04:00

From time to time, Real Life interrupts my Writing Life, demanding my full attention and preventing me from spending as much time as I would like with imaginary people and made-up stories. I hate when that happens. But, as much as I wish it were otherwise, I do have to function at least at some base level in the Real World. I have to make a living.  I have to attend to the necessary chores of

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-62941812483888266332011-04-06T06:00:00.001-04:002011-04-06T06:00:10.208-04:00

I looked forward to reading this book for months. I couldn't wait to find out how in the world the author would pull all the threads back together.  Incredibly, he managed to do it in a conclusion that worked for me.  This volume had less action and more exposition than the others. There was still more backstory than is typical in modern fiction.  Backstory is against the "rules" of modern

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-46426332884897600992011-03-30T06:00:00.079-04:002011-09-18T07:47:44.048-04:00

This is the third book in the Bev Deller series.  Bev is an insurance adjuster from Ohio who does not like change.  She has worked for the same company for nearly thirty years, doing largely the same work the entire time. She lives in the house where she was born, with her daughter, Emily, a high school junior. Bev's well-ordered life is about to be turned upside down. Her immediate assignment

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-59441759877862844462011-03-20T06:00:00.004-04:002011-03-21T20:07:35.604-04:00

I got behind in blogging because I have been consumed lately with a personal project unrelated to writing.  I hope to get back on track soon. In the meantime, I think I will cut down to posting once a week for a while.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-75688829422168128262011-03-16T06:00:00.012-04:002011-03-16T06:00:04.470-04:00

This is my favorite kind of book. There is a plot, although it is not readily apparent. The reader kind of has to figure out what it was at the end. The book is about the characters: the most interesting collection of characters I've encountered in a long time.  Each one is a totally believable and "real" person, while being completely unique, quirky and even occasionally bizarre. There is no

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-69346661221881869732011-03-13T17:16:00.001-04:002011-09-18T07:46:43.256-04:00

I'm not sure where my stories come from, but I have a pretty good idea generally how my characters develop.  I have always been an observer.  I prefer to sit on the sidelines and watch people wherever I go. As I observe the people around me, I try to think of where they might be from and where they are going. I make up stories about how they are related to one another and what their jobs are.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-238593036277674972011-03-09T06:00:00.051-05:002011-03-09T06:00:25.884-05:00

This is an  utterly lovely and delightful book.  One of the blurbs compared it to Jane Austin.  I think I agree, although I'm not a huge Jane Austin fan. Like Austin's work, this book is very honest about the British class system -- without ever being disrespectful, unkind or impolite.  I'm not sure how Simonson accomplished that, but she did. The characters manage to transcend their backgrounds

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-62886691981277934432011-03-06T06:00:00.002-05:002011-09-18T08:37:51.429-04:00

I do not like graphic violence in books or movies, but we live in a violent world, and sometimes the subject matter of a novel demands a certain level of violence. Recently, in the process of drafting a story that was supposed to be about a ship-board romance on a cruise, the story took a sudden turn when hijackers seized the ship and, instead of spending the rest of the cruise having sex on the

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-20817003835961316202011-03-02T06:00:00.008-05:002011-03-02T06:00:15.348-05:00

Once someone gave me a $10 gift certificate to a bookstore. My then-husband laughed and commented that was the equivalent of giving an alcoholic a dollar and sending them into a bar. He was right. Bookstores are dangerous places for me. Before I had my daughter, over the course of any given year I probably spent more money in bookstores than any other stores. I trolled bookstores, and dropped

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-65412221861354552682011-02-27T06:00:00.007-05:002011-09-18T09:05:28.429-04:00

Seven years ago, when I first got serious about writing fiction, I told my daughter I was writing a novel. She was a young teenager at the time. She said she thought that was neat, but then she made a kind of horrified face and said, “You don't write about sex and stuff, do you?!” My daughter's reaction had an impact on my writing. I wrote just about every one of my first dozen or so novels,

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-29339933500519804412011-02-23T06:00:00.015-05:002011-02-23T06:00:06.741-05:00

I don't have a book review this week. Ahab's Wife was a very long book and I have not read as many books this month as is typical for me. Therefore, I'm going to comment not on a particular book, but on my relationship with books in general. I grew up in a home filled with books. We had a set of Collier's encyclopedias which I loved to thumb through and look at the pictures even before I could

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-88403207831041236672011-02-20T06:00:00.015-05:002011-02-20T06:00:07.058-05:00

I have been paying attention to the manner in which I approach writing a novel. I've read articles on writing blogs describing how some writers outline their stories in great detail. Other authors prefer to just sit down, start writing and see what happens. Some writers start with characters and let the plot emerge from the interaction among characters. Others start with a plot and let the

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-29340377072932063122011-02-16T06:00:00.033-05:002011-02-16T06:00:04.065-05:00

It has been a long time since I cried because I didn't want to come to the end of a book.  I cried when I approached the end of this novel. I can't even begin to write a coherent review. All I want to do is bask in the afterglow of the lush language and magnificent characters. I read Moby Dick in 1978, shortly after I graduated from college.  I felt that I was culturally deficient because I'd

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-45897473944551943292011-02-13T06:00:00.061-05:002011-09-18T07:51:33.881-04:00

I recently wrote the entire first draft of a novel -- almost 60,000 words -- in three weeks. I wanted to take a break from writing Bev Deller mysteries and felt inclined to write a romance or love story. I ended up with an action-adventure/romance that popped out whole.  I could barely type fast enough to keep up, as the story played out in my head. The story started out to be about a widow who

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-38659578101403904982011-02-09T06:00:00.022-05:002011-02-09T06:00:14.065-05:00

I really wanted to like this book. I have always found the idea of plural marriage rather appealing. There are more women than men. I always thought it would be cool to be married to someone who wasn't necessarily there ALL the time. I love the idea of “sister-wives” to share in the work and the burden of housework and childcare. The drawbacks are obvious, but – in a kind of theoretical way –

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-2622784168157789342011-02-06T06:00:00.045-05:002011-02-06T06:00:02.791-05:00

I decided to sit out ABNA this year.  I have a couple of novels that I thought might be good candidates, but I am in the throes of drafting a love story, and I didn't want to take the time out to prepare a project for ABNA.  I love the concept of ABNA.  Frankly, I hope that someday events like ABNA and sites like Authonomy will become the way books that do get published in print are discovered.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-89266605404683670632011-02-02T06:00:00.059-05:002011-02-02T06:00:00.608-05:00

If I had to describe this book in only one word, it would be: dazzling. The writing is lyrical, poetic. Haunting in places. Glorious in others. The style and the narrator's voice are totally appropriate to, and strong enough to handle, its lofty themes and vast scale. The beauty of the alternate version of the Priestly prologue to the book of Genesis matches that of the original. I loved how

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-70594028427871210602011-01-30T06:00:00.056-05:002011-09-18T08:47:31.632-04:00

Bev's back! I found Bev Deller, the main character in After the Fire, so interesting, I've written two more novels with her as the protagonist.  The second in the series, Marathon Nightmare, is now available on Smashwords. Following her success settling the restaurant fire in After the Fire, Bev is assigned to investigate a suspicious fire in a crummy motel in Marathon, Florida.  The owner is a

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-29410220028591127832011-01-26T06:00:00.012-05:002011-01-26T06:00:14.347-05:00

This is a departure for me. I usually review fiction, but this is an important book, and I want to spread the word about it. David Walker has been involved in auditing government spending in one capacity or another since the Reagan administration. He has some very important things to say about fiscal responsibility and what America needs to do to get back on track. Our government officials

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-88663982190684158602011-01-23T06:00:00.060-05:002011-01-23T06:00:01.760-05:00

When I first started publishing my stories on Smashwords, my intent was to give away my stories for free because I simply wanted to share my writing.  I have been astonished at how many people have downloaded my stories.  As of January 2011, more than 15,000 downloads from Smashwords alone and another 7000+ from its other markets. When Smashwords shared the stories with vendors, a couple of

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-20069844232405527582011-01-19T06:00:00.013-05:002011-01-19T06:00:05.636-05:00

I loved this book up until the last few pages. The language is beautiful: the mind's ear can almost hear the crisp consonants of the British narrator. The narrative descriptions are lyrical and vivid. The dynamics between and among the characters are too complex to begin to describe. Think of almost every imaginable kind of dysfunctional parent-child and sibling relationship and then add a few

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-33973857525709223592011-01-16T06:00:00.025-05:002011-09-18T07:51:58.884-04:00

I wrote my first romance novel because I read a positively awful formula romance novel by a famous author, and said to myself, "I can write at least as well as that!" Just to make sure, I sat down and did it. I haven't been translated into a dozen languages or earned a jillion dollars in royalties, but a few people who read Marianne's Vacation wrote to say they enjoyed it. That means a lot to me

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-13900625118650267202011-01-12T06:00:00.015-05:002011-01-12T06:00:04.014-05:00

The premise of this story was intriguing: a soldier in Iraq finds a woman's picture half buried in the sand and it becomes his good luck talisman. After he returns to the States, he searches for her, and finds her. Love ensues, along with the requesite challenges from various parties, including her dweeby, perv ex-husband. The main characters were engaging enough. Elizabeth was slightly too

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-30969246506934002152011-01-09T06:00:00.010-05:002011-09-18T07:52:21.300-04:00

I recently watched a show on The Discovery Channel called "The Kennedy Detail."  It featured interviews with several members of the Secret Service team who were assigned to the Kennedy family during JFK's presidency. Three of the men who were interviewed were in Dallas on the day the president was shot. One of them was the agent who rode to the hospital sprawled across the trunk of the limo.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-39047767315787062142011-01-05T06:00:00.012-05:002011-01-05T06:00:02.923-05:00

I read this for a book group I recently joined. I don't generally read science fiction, and with a few notable exceptions, I usually don't enjoy it a whole lot when I do. I found myself making notes about items that he referred to as being in use that were not invented yet when he wrote the book: faxes, two-way-TV, microwave ovens.  That was perhaps the most interesting part of the book for me.

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717591699667816263.post-76828197482589979632011-01-02T06:00:00.033-05:002011-09-18T08:13:57.639-04:00

Other than at my day job (which was very busy) I seriously slacked off in all areas of my life in December. Between the short days and cold weather, I got too little exercise and spent too much time huddled in the house wrapped in a blanket. Holidays are always emotional for me. This year more than ever. It was my first Christmas alone.  So, I took it easy. I got way more sleep than I'm used to

Meredith Rae Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192716036013528670noreply@blogger.com0