A Real Piece of Work

"Hard Times" by Hubert von Herkomer.

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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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