The ABCs of Provincetown, a key setting for No Alligators in Sight

Each of these letters came from somewhere in Provincetown over the course of one week last summer. It's like a visual tour of Lettie's trips around town on her bike. If you go there, it could be your own personal scavenger hunt. Let me know if you find a "better" letter! You can see my whole board here Provincetown Blues Key West Limes.

Neil Gaiman has everything right here

Like the man says, Read, read, read. It's like travel without the strip search at the airport and the bad sunburn because you forgot to pack your sunscreen. Reading has saved my life, remade my life, improved my life more times than I could ever count. Reading will show you the world. Reading will expand your mind. Reading will make you a better person. You get the idea. Read on Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. And in case that's not enough of an argument, the Huffington Post wants you to read, too, for entirely other reasons 7 Unconventional Reasons Why You Absolutely Should Be Reading Books

Why I went the independent route

Since many of you have asked, I thought I'd share why I decided to self-publish, to go "independent," instead of the more traditional publishing route of getting an agent, which leads to an editor, which leads to a book on the shelf, not to mention a big advance and a media blitz. Right? Well, that's not how I found it to go, and not how many authors are finding it these days. Fewer publishers are even offering advances now to new authors, never mind publicists and publicity campaigns; these tend to go, along with publishing contracts altogether, to already-established authors, those with a proven track record and a "brand" or a "platform," as the lingo goes. So here I was, writing away, and reading, too, always reading, and I read a book called Wool by a man named Hugh Howey. I liked it and wanted to know if he had written others. When I searched him, one of the links that came up was an article from Salon about how he got started, and wouldn't you know it, he had self-published his first seven novels before the eighth one really began to get attention. This article certainly caught my attention. I decided to give it a try. As he said, what did I have to lose? So now my book is out there in the world and has sold way more copies than it would have gathering the proverbial dust on my hard drive! Check it out. Hugh Howey, "Self-publishing is_the future and great for writers" Maybe you have a book in you, too.

"If I Loved You" Delta Rae featuring Lindsey Buckingham

This song is a novel in 3:38 minutes--awesome! I heard it and loved it so much that I played it five more times in a row. Hear the story for yourself (and you can like their Facebook page like I did):
"If I Loved You" Delta Rae feat. Lindsey Buckingham

Best Recent Reads 1

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron

How about you?

My first interview as an author, by noted author Brendan Halpin

My friend and fellow author Brendan Halpin interviewed me for his riotous blog. When you follow this link, you can read it!

DIY Author Spotlight: Kirsten Feldman

You can, and should, also read about his many fabulous YA, adult, crossover, and horror novels (with the cool pen name of Seamus Cooper). Two of my favorites are Forever Changes and Long Way Back, but it's hard to choose because I enjoy them all. I just ordered the new one, Enter the Bluebird.