American Novelist
A month ago, I finished the third draft of what I’m calling my “teen epic.” Between December 2023 and the end of April 2024, I cut 175,817 words (or 11.4%) from the 1.5 million-word manuscript, trimming it down to 1,365,148 words. The epic novel is now actually 10 novels, and my aim is to cut … Read more
About five months ago, I bought a countdown clock that sits directly below my computer monitor, and for 157 days it’s been ticking down. It’s been ticking down to my self-imposed deadline for the second draft of my behemoth epic novel (a series, actually). Last December, I set a deadline for myself: I would finish … Read more
My friend Jason Scott and I have been friends since 5th grade–that’s over 40 years–and during that time Jason has continually introduced me to, and shared with me, the latest in computer technology. The other day, Jason shared with me some art that he’d created using an artificial intelligence (AI) art engine called Stable.Diffusion and … Read more
It’s only been a week since I “deactivated” my personal Facebook account and already I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This “deactivation” was a long time coming. Since 2015, I’d been using Facebook less and less—from spending hours on there per day to about 10 minutes per month. Regarding … Read more
Inspired by my organizing genius wife, I recently watched the program Tidying Up with Japanese organization guru Marie Kondo. In the program and in her books (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy), Kondo explains the necessity of keeping in our lives only those objects that “spark joy” for us. If an object … Read more
In the first installment of this piece, I described the first half of my writing process: Writing the first draft in longhand or on a typewriter Storing the completed draft in a drawer Editing the hand- or type-written manuscript with a blue pen Retyping the manuscript into a word processor Now, hold on to your … Read more
I’m writing this blog entry on my latest piece of low-tech equipment, an Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter. All told, I now have six typewriters: • The Lettera 32 • A Royal Quiet Deluxe • An Olympia SM9 Deluxe • An … Read 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 makes this activity particularly pleasant for me is this: it came about more or less spontaneously, without my having to do much of anything. In fact, you could say that … Read more
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 of a notebook with the words of a new novel. I love sitting in front of my Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter and banging out pages. I love typing those pages … Read more
“At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials.” — Virginia Woolf, diary, 3/22/1928 I stumbled upon this quotation earlier this week. What struck me most about it was that it expressed a thought I had back in February, when I turned 46 myself, although my version of the thought at the … Read more
I’ve been tired of social media for a long time. However, like a drug addict, I’ve continued to take hits off it, hoping to get a similar high as in the past, only to discover that no matter how much time and energy I invest in it, I’m never going to get anything substantial back from … Read more
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 do the interview, I had to stay up way past my usual 10 p.m. (Eastern) bedtime, and I had to pound down half a gallon of coffee beforehand, but it was … Read more
’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 was thankful, most of all for Alexas, And his many readers and fans, from London to Texas. Thankful, too, for advance readers Hillary and Tony, Upon whom he could always … Read more
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 questions and gave me the opportunity to give detailed answers. There was also a wonderful, unexpected call-in—my friend and colleague Hillary Leftwich, who praised my new novel, One Hundred Miles … Read more
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 Hundred Miles from Manhattan, we’ll be discussing my other fiction, the craft of writing, and anything else she decides to ask me. (I’m sure there will be surprises.) Some of … Read more
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 terrific success. The show is hosted by the friendly, knowledgeable and engaging Stephen Campbell, and as I mentioned a few days ago, I was taken aback by how well-prepared he … Read more
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 hear how I did. If you’re interested in hearing about the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series, my fiction, and writing in general, tune in today (Thursday, Dec. 19) at 6:30 pm … Read more
Recently I did a radio interview with Stephen Campbell, the terrific host of “Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem” on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. The interview went very well, and it is slated to be available as a podcast sometime in the next few weeks. I will of course post an update about … Read more
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 hosting provider. These sites will look bad for some time. I ask for your patience. It will take me a month or more to rebuild both DakotaStevens.com and Chris Orcutt, … Read more
Greetings, readers. Today, for the first time in the history of my blog, I’m making somebody else the focus. Today I’m going back to my roots as a newspaper reporter and interviewing Jeff Bennington, creator of The Kindle Book Review and author of a new book about the indie publishing phenomenon, The Indie Author’s Guide … Read more
I have read hundreds of books on writing. Conservatively figuring an average of 15 per year, over 24 years that makes 360 books on the subject. Books on voice, style, grammar, plotting, dialogue, point of view, syntax, narration, description, characterization, novel writing, technical writing, short story writing, nonfiction writing, query writing, getting an agent and … Read more
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 have a Kindle.” NOTE: You don’t need a Kindle to read my novel. With the FREE Kindle Reader app, you can read it on your iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Droid, Windows … Read more
What did I learn from publishing the first novel in my new detective series on Kindle? A lot of disjointed things that would take too much time and brainpower to construct into a narrative (I want to get back to, you know, writing), so I’m going to present them to you as bullet points: (NOTE: If … Read more
I had big plans for this blog entry. BIG plans. When I originally envisaged this piece, it was going to be a 5,000-word polemic on the difficulties of being a writer in the internet age. I was going to sketch a detailed contrast between what was involved in being a writer 80 to 100 years … Read more
Walking into the diner yesterday, I glanced at the honor box containing our village newspaper, The Millbrook Round Table, and was shocked to read the following headline: Round Table Publishes Last Issue, Closes Its Doors I was numb as I went inside and had my two cups of black coffee. Part of me wished I … Read more
Here’s the thing with pencils and typewriters—they never go out of date, they never need updated software, and they never require virus protection. Three years ago, I found I was spending a lot of my writing time making my computer usable. I had an iMac, of course, which was great, but for a portable I … Read more
