That Scary Time of Year!

Halloween, Samhain, Dia de la Muerte. Must be time for NaNoWriMo! 

I've avoided it for years. It's finally time to take the plunge. Today, November 1, starts NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Budding or experienced authors tighten their seat belts, ready the falling oxygen masks, and pledge themselves to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days time. 
Yikes!
It has to be a new work, no cheating and finishing up something you've already started. I haven't finished "The Bluebottle Tree" yet, so I'm setting it aside and taking on another story in the same series. The book is tentatively named "Dark Roots". This time, Deputy Constable Pen Sadler is embroiled in a renewed family feud from generations past and a series of very new murders.
We'll see what happens.
If you've ever noticed the dark side of family reunions, you've seen the recalcitrant characters, the smouldering resentments, the old grudges that lurk beneath the surface. 
You haven't?
Well, I have. Maybe it's just my family.
Anyway, I just decided to take the plunge last night and signed up. Today has been spent clearing the decks and getting ready, so no real word count today. That means I'm already about 1,667 words behind. Sigh.
Onward!

Book Review

Silent Night, Deadly Night by Lisa Lach

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This book is a confusing read. It is apparently self-published and shows it. It would have seriously benefited from being edited. The book badly needs better organization and an index. I am very fond of local historical accounts. I am a past member of the Williamson County Historical Commission, Williamson Co. Genealogical Society, Round Rock and Liberty Hill libraries, and an author. The quoted sources were informative, but the connecting narrative was very hard to follow and suffers from grammar and typo/spelling challenges. I would only suggest reading this book if you want to see the source material, which is plentiful. Don't read it to find a coherent story.
We also are not told anything of the author's background or her purpose for writing the book.
I will finish the book, I will learn from it, but it is not a "Good Read".




View all my reviews

The above is my review of a book I am nearly done reading. The book purports to tell the true story of the lynching and Christmas Day shootout in McDade, Texas in 1883. Guess I should have been clued in by the toy cap pistol on the cover! I'm a writer, I support self-publishing. However, books like this illustrate the drawbacks.