USS Jason: Rainbow at Sea
During my time aboard the USS Jason (AR-8), I was assigned to the R4 Division. We were mainly Electronics Technicians (ETs)—often called Twidgets. I have never quite discerned why. Although, the story goes that it had to do with the tools we carried for tweaking...
Kirkus Reviews: Lostuns Found
Good reviews are always a cause for celebration and getting a wonderful Kirkus Reviews review of Lostuns Found, my middle-grade steampunk novel, makes my extra heart happy! KIRKUS REVIEWS: LOSTUNS FOUND REVIEW "Skinner offers a steampunk middle-grade adventure novel about a bunch of scrappy urchins who battle...
How Long Does It Take To Write A Book?
As an author (and also as a book coach), I get asked this question a lot. How long does it take to write a book? It's an interesting question. One that I think is driven by both curiosity and, when it is an aspiring author doing...
What Readers Want
As a writer (and a book coach), I have opinions about a lot of things, including what I think makes a satisfying book/story. Writers are always looking for the breakout novel that will reach bestseller lists, right? Of course, was much as we wish there was...
Five Things I Learned Writing Lostuns Found
When writing/creating, every new work of fiction, every new story, or poem, brings along its own aspirational and inspirational moments, as well as, its own challenges, and I had many such moments when writing Lostuns Found. Writing is an incredibly rich art form. The tools of...
AUTHOR APPEARANCES: WHAT’S YOUR ROI?
Author Appearances As an author, at some point, you are going to be asked (or even expected) to do author appearances. Whether by your publisher, the local school librarian, or the current organizer of that writing conference, someone will request your presence (Yay!) and you will...
DEVELOPING YOUR WRITER’S VOICE
Voice in fiction is often talked about as a mysterious component of craft. I have even heard people say, “It can’t be taught.” But developing your writer's voice is not an impossible dream. CLASSIC WRITER'S VOICE When we read the classics in school, teachers would go on...