Livin’ the Dream
A couple weeks ago, I finished the second draft of the third episode (or volume) of the epic-length novel I’ve been writing for seven years.…
The Social Distancing Champion Thrives in the Pandemic
I have a T‑shirt with a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald on it. The quote reads, “You don’t write because you want to say something.…
"Hard Times" by Hubert von Herkomer.
Hard(ish) Times
Back in March, I wrote a cheeky blog entry about how COVID-19 wouldn’t change my work as a writer a single bit. Turns out, I…
Backstory: The Story Behind The Perfect Triple Threat
The idea for The Perfect Triple Threat, a collection of three Dakota Stevens mystery novellas, didn’t come to me all at once. Rather, the book…
Backstory: The Story Behind A Truth Stranger Than Fiction
WARNING: This entry contains spoilers about the novel A Truth Stranger Than Fiction. Continue reading at your own risk! Most of my mystery novels, and…
Backstory: The Story Behind the Second Dakota Stevens mystery, The Rich Are Different — Part 2
Last week, in Part 1 of the story behind The Rich Are Different, I described my experiences during 9/11 in Manhattan and the months following, and…
Backstory: The Story Behind the Second Dakota Stevens mystery, The Rich Are Different — Part 1
The novel that became The Rich Are Different was written during the winter of 2001-02, over a year before I even conceived of the Dakota…
Writing in Asian Restaurants
I’m writing this blog entry in one of my favorite Asian restaurants: Momiji in Rhinebeck, NY. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been writing…
Backstory: The Story Behind the First Dakota Stevens Mystery, A Real Piece of Work
A Real Piece of Work and the entire Dakota Stevens Mystery Series might never have happened were it not for a bad office chair. During…
FREE Giveaway! — A Sneak-Preview of the Prequel to The Dakota Stevens Mystery Series
The story of how Dakota Stevens and Svetlana Krüsh met and became an investigative team is one that has haunted me for 15 years—ever since…
Do Less, Achieve More
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of positive activity regarding my latest book, my memoir of the writing life, Perpetuating Trouble. But what…
WANTED: A 21st Century Author Promoter
I love writing. I love sitting down with half a dozen fresh Blackwing 602 pencils, sharpening them to a razor edge and filling up pages…
The Writer with the Master Number Clears the Deck
Two years ago, when I released the 3rd Dakota Stevens installment, I read one of those rare books that gave me a much-needed kick in…
Out with the Old, In with the New
A New Year demands new writing projects and a new workspace. And since I’m a writer who is deeply inspired or discouraged by his environment,…
A REAL PIECE OF WORK — NOW ONLY 99¢!
Today I decided to price A Real Piece of Work, the 1st novel in my critically acclaimed Dakota Stevens Mystery Series, at just 99¢. This…
Orcutt Books Holiday Sale!
Since October, I’ve been back at work on a few new projects, including new Dakota Stevens adventures, and to celebrate how well the writing has…
“Almost Nailed It!” — My Appearance on Coast to Coast AM
It was long. At 2 hours on the phone, it was by far the longest interview I’ve ever done. But it was worth it. To…
A Helium‑3 and Oil Timeline: Is There a Conspiracy Between the U.S. Government and the Fossil Fuels Industry?
While doing research for my book A Truth Stranger Than Fiction, I found a lot of material on helium‑3 and oil, some of which suggested…
Photo by DAVID ILIFF
Dakota & Svetlana ARE Going to be a TV Series
I HAVE DECIDED that the adventures of Dakota & Svetlana are going to be a television series. As I helped a friend with…
Why I’m Selling My Books Everywhere Now, Instead of Just on Amazon
Between January 2012 and this month (over 3 years), I sold my novels on Amazon exclusively. I did this under their KDP “Select” (Kindle Direct…
Paying Attention as a Fiction Writer
I have been writing fiction since I was 13 years old, when I first read Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger and was swept away not only by the…
Helium‑3, Alternative Energy & The China Problem
Recently I was interviewed by Alternative Energy eMagazine about an issue that plays a part in my most recent mystery novel, A Truth Stranger Than…
A California Drive-Time Interview with Phil Cowan
I just enjoyed a terrific 15-minute interview with radio talk show host Phil Cowan of KTKZ AM 1380, Sacramento, California. Before the live interview, I…
A Brief Q&A About the New Dakota Mystery
Is any of A Truth Stranger Than Fiction based in reality? Absolutely. Without giving any spoilers, I can tell you that the heart of the…
Write to Support Your Writing: A Guest Spot on The Author Biz
Whether you’re an aspiring author or a working journeyman writer, Steve Campbell’s podcast The Author Biz is worth your time and attention. And I’m not saying…
Why I Write a PI Series
I wasn’t going to write the latest Dakota Stevens mystery. Back in June of last year, at a reading I gave from my then-new pastoral novel…
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
’Twas the night before the night before Christmas, And all through this writer’s head, Not a bad thought was stirring, not even dread. The writer…
A Truth Stranger Than Fiction — Book Trailer
For the 3rd novel in my Dakota Stevens Mystery Series, I decided I wanted to juice up the book promotion. So, in addition to hiring…
The Next Dakota Stevens Mystery is Done
IT’S DONE. After 90,000 words, 6 drafts, endless polishing, and countless tweaks, spell-checks and fact-checks, the next Dakota Stevens mystery, A Truth Stranger Than Fiction,…
Me and My Montblanc
This is the very short story of a man and his pen. Around 1988, when I went to college to study philosophy, my forward-thinking uncle,…
When Your Fetal Book Starts to Kick
Since mid-June, I’ve been earnestly at work on the third Dakota Stevens mystery novel, but it wasn’t until last week that I felt the fetus…
A Successful Interview with Pam Stack on Authors on the Air
This evening, I did my first-ever LIVE radio interview, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. Host Pam Stack asked me some thought-provoking…
A Written Interview with Authors in the Spotlight with Lucie Dunn
In my blog post yesterday, I mentioned my upcoming internet radio interview with Pam Stack, host of Authors on the Air, on Wed., April 30…
My Upcoming Interview with Authors on the Air Host Pam Stack
On Wednesday, April 30 at 8:00 p.m. EST, I’m being interviewed LIVE on Authors on the Air with host Pam Stack. Besides my new novel, One…
My Radio Interview on “Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem”
Today my interview on the Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem program (part of the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network) aired, and it was a…
Chris Orcutt & Dakota Stevens Hit the Airwaves
Today, I’m in my first-ever radio interview. I haven’t heard the completed, edited version yet, so you can bet I’m going to tune in to…
The Adventure of the Sherlock Holmes Aficionado
Thanks to the thousands of readers of my Dakota Stevens mysteries, in the past 18 months I’ve been able to fulfill two lifelong dreams. The…
Orcutt Books Back on KDP Select
This is just a quick entry to let readers know that my books—The Man, The Myth, The Legend; The Rich Are Different; and A Real Piece of…
Two Ideas to Get You Through (The 1st Draft)
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you already know that I began writing the third installment in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series last…
Dakota Novels Get 5 Stars from IndieReader
IndieReader, the popular and informative web-zine about self-published books, reviewed A Real Piece of Work back in February and gave the novel 5 stars. So when…
Dakota Stevens #3: Starting from Scratch
While writing the first two books in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series—A Real Piece of Work and The Rich Are Different—I kept notebooks of other plot…
Publishing Your Ebook: Don’t Go It Alone
A year ago, when I published A Real Piece of Work, I did it the hard way. I formatted and converted the book myself. Although I…
Thanks for the Incredible Year
A little more than a year ago, I published A Real Piece of Work for the Kindle, not for a second anticipating the terrific success the…
Gratitude
As a writer, it’s easy to fall into the habit of focusing on what’s missing, on the goals you fail to accomplish, and to take…
My Writing Secret Weapon
For as long as I’ve been writing—over 20 years professionally now—I’ve collected articles on writing, handwritten snatches from books on writing, examples from great authors,…
Engaging Novels About a Detective
The other day, after publishing the second novel in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series—The Rich Are Different—I pulled a giant plastic crate labeled “Dakota Stevens…
The Rich Are Different is Now Available
The second book in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series by Chris Orcutt, The Rich Are Different, is now available for Kindle on Amazon. In February, I…
Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough
If I were merely interested in selling copies of the second Dakota & Svetlana adventure, The Rich Are Different, I would probably release the novel…
Please Bear With Me During Remodeling
Because of a recent pharmaceutical spam attack on some of my websites, I am in the midst of moving this blog and DakotaStevens.com to another…
Rewriting The Rich Are Different
While in the post office the other day, a couple of postal workers who bought A Real Piece of Work complimented me on the writing.…
Next in the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series…
Back in late November 2011 when I released A Real Piece of Work, I promised to release book #2 in the series, The Rich Are…
The Free Ebook Experiment — Part 2 —Conclusion
Last week I said I would report on the results of my 2 “free days” on Amazon’s KDP Select: the total number of free downloads,…
Writing vs. Self-Promotion
The big problem facing writers today is finding a balance between writing and self-promotion. I’m currently doing a free promotion of my Kindle mystery novel,…
The Free Ebook Experiment — Part 1
According to the new, social-networking philosophy of book promotion, one of the most effective ways of building your audience is to give away copies of…
It’s All About the Reader
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a mystery novel, a mystery novel that only one agent and zero editors believed in. This mystery novel was…
An Open Thank You Letter to Readers
This one is for you readers. For those of you who took a risk on a relatively unknown quantity (me) by plunking down cash for…
Chris Orcutt’s Barbaric Yawp
“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass THE OTHER DAY, I wrote that I was going to “take it…
You Don’t Need a Kindle to Read A Real Piece of Work
Friends, Romans, Countrymen: I’ve received dozens of messages from would-be book-buyers who say, “I’d love to read A Real Piece of Work, but I don’t…