Seduction Secrets

For my first book, Seduction, I drew inspiration from many sources. Fictionalizing facts that were horrific in real life and emphasizing them through fiction. It is not an autobiography, with only the names changed, but a WTF-graphy. It was the first time I had sat down to write about the incredible greed and abuse present,…

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Writing & Research

My work in progress (WIP) is TRANSITION. I’m back at the Gregory Inn, Lake George, NY. Everything is going smoothly as I follow my rough outline until it’s not. The characters and plot development take a turn I didn’t plan for.  In other words, my WIP puzzle is missing a piece. I have to put…

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Transition: The Middle

The middle is the bridge transporting the reader, you, from the beginning to the end of the story. Writing a book takes time and research in addition to story and persistence. The journey over the bridge from “I have got a great idea” to “they lived happily ever after” is tortuous. Whether you’re a plotter…

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Ideas? Write About What You Know.

I’m fortunate as I never run out of ideas. However, framing one or more into an entertaining story may take some time.  Before I get into that, welcome. I hope you’ve coped well and safely with the summer’s heat, humidity, rain, drought, and/or wind. I scheduled two outdoor projects which are eighty percent done. Just…

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Persistence — A Writing Essential

The road to success is paved with persistence, with an underlayment of information and earned luck—being in the right place at the right time with the right credentials. For me, after spending a lifetime reading books, I harbored a secret desire to write a commercial paperback, but the time was never right. Family, community, work,…

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Editing – A Writing Essential

My fifth book, EXECUTION, left my hands and my house at the end of February. It was much like the feeling when a high school graduate leaves for college. The experience was a mix of joy, relief, anxiety, apprehension, and sadness. For me, the creative process and solving problems are at the root of my…

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Letting Go

My draft of Execution, the 5th book in the CL Bluestein thriller Seduction Series, has left my hands, electronically, for those of my content editor. I’m expecting it back with comments and suggestions in two weeks, give or take. This is my fifth time doing this. I expected to be used to it. But no,…

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Brain games – The Creative Art of Writing

  Writing, for me, is a Brain Game. How to get from here to there, efficiently without leaving out the details, practically without over/under explaining, and safely so my reader is buckled in for the ride, while my characters fight for the world they want to live in and for. Recently, in a wide range…

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Boxes — Breaking Free

I have just returned from the International Women Writer’s Guild (IWWG) Summer Conference. It is the first-time members have gathered, in person, since Covid. It was as if we’d never taken a two-year hiatus. For me, this gathering is the space where we break out of our boxes, roles, and silence to listen, see,  and…

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