8 Online Tools Writers Need to Know About

Here are some online tools that writers need to know about. Some are free and others have paid subscription plans. Check them out and let me know what you would add to the list.

• Social Security Baby Name List - This site shows you the most popular baby names. If you scroll down further, there is a search feature to see popular baby names from past years.

• Google Maps - This is a great way to find locations for your stories. Put on the terrain or street views to see the surrounding areas of a place.

• WorldAnvil - You can create a free account to build your fictitious world and design interactive maps.

• Canva - This is a great tool for creating graphics for almost any type of promotion. There is a free and a paid version.

• Bitly - This is one of the free sites that will let you shorten a long URL for your social media posts. If you want to customize your URL, there is a paid version of the software.\

• Fake Name Generator - This site helps you come up with interesting character names.

• BrownieLocks - This site has a calendar of holidays (real and silly) for each day and month. You can use these to help with your book marketing tie-ins.

• BookBrush - They have free and paid subscriptions. This tool helps you create book graphics for all kinds of advertising and book trailers. Their training sessions and customer support are awesome.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Erica Miner

I’d like to welcome Erica Miner to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Roses. BBQs. Summer in San Diego. The ocean. Writing. Lecturing.

Things you need to throw out: Those size 2 jeans that I never again will be able to wear. Sigh.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Peace and quiet. My backless desk chair.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise. Interruptions (my husband is usually the guilty one).

Things you love about writing: Telling stories!

Things you hate about writing: Starting from scratch with a blank screen in front of me.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Putting aside all distractions and committing to the process.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Expressing my desire to tell stories. When the creative juices are flowing, this is the easiest thing ever.

Favorite foods: Mangoes are #1, but pretty much every fruit on the planet, especially tropical.

Things that make you want to gag: Beets and lima beans

Favorite music or song: As a writer of Opera Mysteries, of course I’m a classical music geek. Favorite opera is by Puccini, composer of the famous La Bohème and Madame Butterfly: his first big hit, Manon Lescaut, is filled with youthful passion and endlessly beautiful melodies.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy Metal, Rap, Country Music.

Favorite smell: Croissants baking

Something that makes you hold your nose: diesel fumes

Last best thing you ate: A fresh, perfectly ripe mango, so ripe you could almost drink it from a straw.

Last thing you regret eating: Chocolate that was almost all lecithin and lacking in true chocolate flavor.

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy, France, Switzerland, San Francisco, San Diego, New York

Favorite books (or genre): The classics: Dickens, Austen, the Brontës.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything gratuitous violence and/or mistreatment of kids or animals

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Waterskiing.

Something you chickened out from doing: Diving off a high board.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: ‘Death by Opera is better than Death by Chocolate!’

The craziest thing a reader said to you: ‘You can’t see the stage from the Met Opera orchestra pit.’ That is patently false. Anyone who’s ever sat in that pit knows better.

About Erica:

Formerly a Metropolitan Opera Orchestra violinist for 21 years, ERICA MINER now enjoys a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author, lecturer, screenwriter, and arts journalist.

Known for “Bringing Murder and Music together” Erica’s 3-part Julia Kogan “Opera Mystery” novel series is due for re-publication by Level Best Books starting in September 2022. The first novel draws on Erica’s real-life experiences working at the Met. The series continues with novels that take place at Santa Fe and San Francisco Opera.

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with my Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her screenplays have won awards in the Santa Fe, WinFemme and Writer’s Digest competitions. She writes for such arts websites as BroadwayWorld.com, USBachtrack.com and LAOpus.com.

A resident of the Pacific Northwest, Erica is a top speaker and lecturer on opera and writing. Her presentation venues include the Seattle Symphony the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of California San Diego and University of Washington; the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds College (Seattle); and Wagner Societies on both coasts and Sydney, Australia.

Let’s Be Social:

https://www.ericaminer.com

https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

#WriterWednesday Interview with Liz Boeger

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Liz Boeger to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite fall traditions: Wearing long sleeves for a day or two when a Florida cold front swings through. We don’t put on the closed-toed shoes until winter.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Make sand angels on the beach. Not because its not fun, but the shells can be a little sharp.

Favorite fall treat: Humongous chocolate and peanut covered caramel apples-no sharing.

A fall treat that makes you gag: Circus Peanuts candy—those orange marshmallow things.

Favorite autumn beverage: Mulled wine by the fake fire on the big screen television.

A drink that gives you a sour face: Pour quality orange juice with pits.

Favorite fall smell: Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and all related baking spices

Something that makes you hold your nose: That sweaty odor from wearing a plastic face mask on Halloween when you were a kid.

A tradition you share with others: I always bring my fall crafts to show with my students and to decorate the classroom. They love the tabletop quilts (Halloween and Thanksgiving), fabric pumpkins and decorated basket. I used them this year in science to teach the concept of “transformation" when we studied energy.

A tradition that can be retired: Cooking the BIG Thanksgiving dinner. Too much work and too many calories. We can still get together and enjoy family and friends without the sweat and mound of dirty dishes.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in autumn: I hacked store bought sugar cookies into Ginger Snaps by adding fall spices and minced up crystallized ginger. Yum! They are a quick stand in for my sister’s famous Ginger Snap cookies, which is a rare treat.

Your worst kitchen disaster: Probably the chocolate chip cookies with too many chips that turned into brick-like discs.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: Outside with clear blue skies a slight breeze and coolish 60-70 degrees at a pumpkin patch and farm when my sone was a toddler.

The worst place to spend a fall day: Stuck inside grading papers, which I really need to do today.

Your best Halloween costume: An octopus I made for a young friend. She was the star of her school show.

A Halloween costume that wasn’t quite what you imagined: The Star Wars inspired alien get up I wore to my high school job at a local department store. I looked more like a space janitor with a unibrow.

Favorite pumpkin spice item: Hands down--old school Pumpkin Pie

Something that should never be pumpkin-spiced flavored: Key Lime Pie

Elementary principal Ana Callahan knows a thing or two about flipping failing schools, but she’s discovered the learning curve on solving murders is steep.

Now in the second year of her school rescue, in Moccasin Cove on Florida’s Gulf coast, Ana is on the verge of winning a pivotal grant award. But her grand plan hits a snag after a teacher is murdered and the crime is pinned on a runaway teenager Ana mentored. The story goes viral. Ana’s campus is besieged by the media, angry parents, and complex questions about the dead teacher’s past. Worse, the myopic rookie detective assigned to the case has her sights set on all the wrong suspects.

While grieving the teacher’s death, Ana starts her own investigation, but her discovery of a body on the beach pins a bullseye on Ana’s back. In her quest to solve two murders, locate the missing teen, and salvage the grant win, Ana unwittingly unleashes a riptide of childhood secrets that force her to learn a hard lesson...

It takes a village to raise a child, but it may also take your life.

2021 Finalist: Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense

2015 Finalist: Royal Palm Literary Award, Florida Writers Association

About Liz:

Tampa native, Liz Boeger, writes the award-winning Moccasin Cove Mystery Series about an elementary school principal who has a lot to learn about murder. If you like your traditional mysteries with a cozy edge, a hint of Southern snark, a beachy vibe, and always a happy ending, this series is for you. Don’t worry, she promises the suspicious search history on her laptop, the crime scene tape on her bookshelf, and her real-life run-in with the US Secret Service all have perfectly reasonable explanations.

Let’s Be Social:

Moccasin Cove Mysteries

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B&N and other Booksellers

Misterio Press

How Authors Can Help Independent Bookstores

November 26 is Small Business Saturday. Here’s one way authors can help independent bookstores.

Bookshop.org is a website that connects readers with small bookstores nationwide. For more information on the site, check out their mission.

Here’s What You Can Do:

• As a reader, create an account and select a bookstore that will receive a portion of your purchase. When you purchase books on this site, you help your designated store.

• As a writer, create your own online shop and share the link on your website and socials when you promote your books.

How to Create a Shop:

• Create an account on Bookshop.,org. Create a profile with your biography, photo, and links.

• Then create a book list for all of the books in each of your series. You’ll need to create a title (usually the series name) and then add each book. You’ll need the ISBN-13. When you paste the number in the field, make sure to remove the hyphen, or it won’t work. Add each book in the series.

• Then you can add as many book lists as you want to your shop.

• Share the link to your shop on your website and socials.

• Don’t forget to update it when you publish new books.

• This is my shop link.

Many thanks to Kelly Justice as Fountain Bookstore for introducing me to Bookshop.org.

#WriterWednesdayInterview with Lori Robbins

I’d like to welcome Lori Robbins to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite fall traditions: I never miss an opportunity to go apple and pumpkin picking.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Overestimate how many apples and pumpkins I need, which results in two weeks of making vats of applesauce and watching the pumpkins wither as I debate how many pumpkin seeds one can reasonably be expected to roast and eat.

Favorite fall treat: I love roasted chestnuts and candy apples.

A fall treat that makes you gag: Pumpkin spice malted milk balls. How can such a thing exist?

Something you only do in the fall: I hide candy from the rest of the family and then eat it myself.

Something you’d never do in the fall season: Go outdoors when the temperature dips below 50 degrees. Maybe 60. As a resident of northern New Jersey, this does pose a few problems.

Favorite autumn beverage: My favorite autumn drink is an apple brandy cocktail that’s topped with champagne. After drinking a few you still have a half bottle of opened champagne, which I think of as a win.

A drink that gives you a sour face: I know this is heresy to many, but I don’t drink tea. Ever.

Favorite fall smell: Wood smoke is my favorite and has the added advantage of not triggering any allergies.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Every brand of tea [see above] with the possible exception of chamomile.

Best fall memory: My first Halloween in suburban New Jersey. We had just moved from NYC, and it was a great way to meet the neighbors!

Something you’d rather forget: The year I dressed as a black cat and got my tail stuck in an elevator door. Twice.

Funniest autumn story: Finding an empty bag of hidden Halloween candy with a note from my kids that said We always enjoy the hunt, heh, heh, heh

Something embarrassing that happened during the fall: Showing up at a Halloween party and finding out no one else was wearing a costume.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in autumn: Apple pie, for sure!

Your worst kitchen disaster: Making pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin. There’s a reason the canned stuff is so popular.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: My daughter’s September wedding at the Jersey shore was magical. She got married on the beach, and a crowd of late-season beach goers joined in.

The worst place to spend a fall day: My backyard is the worst place to be in October and November. I’m fairly certain my allergy to leaf mold was born out a disinclination to wield a rake.

Funniest pumpkin-carving story: Carving a pumpkin and having people think the kids must have done it.

Your worst pumpkin-carving story: Trying to carve a pumpkin with one of those flexible knives that come in pumpkin carving kits, deciding a kitchen knife would work better, and then slicing three fingers instead of said pumpkin. On the other hand, blood from the wound was definitely on brand for Halloween.

Best Halloween memory: Playing Scrabble with friends while answering the door to trick-or-treaters.

Worst Halloween experience: Losing every single Scrabble game because it was my house, and I was the one doling out candy. As a matter of record, I’d like to make a case for including the word “rebeaner” in the Scrabble dictionary. What other word would you use to describe someone who repeatedly beans another person on the head with a bag of candy? Had my fellow Scrabble players agreed, I would have won.

About Lori:

Lori Robbins began dancing at age 16 and launched her professional career three years later. She performed with a number of modern dance and classical ballet companies, including Ballet Hispanico and the St. Louis Ballet, and her commercial work included featured spots for Pavlova Perfume. After ten very lean years onstage she became an English teacher and now writes full time.

Lori is the author of the On Pointe mysteries; the third book in that series, Murder in Third Position, is due out in November and is set in a fictional New York City ballet company. The first book in her Master Class series, Lesson Plan for Murder, features a crimefighting English teacher and will release in early 2023. She won the Indie Award for Best Mystery, the Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery, and was a finalist for both a Readers’ Choice and Mystery and Mayhem Book Award.

Short stories include “Accidents Happen” in Murder Most Diabolical and “Leading Ladies” in Justice for All. She’s also a contributor to The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers Cookbook.

As a dancer, writer, English teacher, and mother of six, Lori is an expert in the homicidal impulses everyday life inspires.

Let’s Be Social:

https://linktr.ee/lorirobbinsmysteries

https://www.lorirobbins.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lorirobbinsmysteries/

https://www.facebook.com/lorirobbinsauthor/

https://twitter.com/lorirobbins99

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lori-robbins

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16007362.Lori_Robbins

http://lorirobbinsauthor@gmail.com

23 Tech Terms Writers Should Know

Technology has its own vocabulary, and I’m often fascinated with the terms and where they come from. Here’s a list of 23 that could worm their way into your writing.

1. Account Harvesting - This is the method of collecting a system’s account names.

2. Back Door - This is a tool that’s installed to give the attacker access and bypasses security.

3. Biometrics - These are physical attributes of a user that can be used to provide access to a device or software (e.g. retinal, fingerprint, or facial scans).

4. Brute Force - This is a type of attack that tries all possibilities by bombarding the victim with one option after another in a continuous attack.

5. Cookie - When you access a website with your browser, some information is stored on your computer that can be retrieved later.

6. Data Mining - This is a technique used to analyze information, sometimes from different sources. It’s often used in business and marketing tasks.

7. Denial of Service - This is a type of attack that prevents users from accessing system.

8. Hardening - This is when computer engineers identify and fix vulnerabilities.

9. Honey Pot - These are defense mechanisms that appear to be vulnerabilities in a system. When attacked, they track information on the attacker. (Flies are attracted to a honey pot.)

10. Least Privilege - This is where system administrators assign the least amount of access or permissions necessary for a user.

11. MAC Address - This is the number that uniquely identifies your network device from all the other devices.

12. Masquerade Attack - This is a type of attack where one system falsely poses as another. It pretends or assumes the identity of the victim.

13. Phishing - This is when the bad actor uses emails that look like trusted sources to get the victim to enter his or her credentials. It allows them to steal logins, passwords, and other personal information.

14. Ping (Packet Internet Groper) - The is the time it takes a small data set or communication to go from a server to your device and back again. It allows the sender to see if the destination exists or accepts requests. It takes its name from a submariner’s sonar pulse.

15. Plain Text - This is ordinary (readable) text before it is encrypted or decrypted.

16. Smurf - This is a type of attack on a system that sends a call out (ping) to the site. It usually results in a lot of communication activity.

17. Social Engineering - This is the term that describes the nontechnical ways that bad actors get information to attack a system. It can be by phone calls, lies, tricks, or threats.

18. Spoof - This is when a bad actor tries to gain access by posing as an authorized user.

19. Time to Live - This is a value in the code that tells the network router whether or not the request (network packet) is too old and should be discarded.

20. Trojan Horse - This is a program that appears to be useful, but it has malicious code that allows it entry or access to a system. The user thinks he/she is accessing a program, but it loads dangerous code that allows the bad actor to bypass security protocols.

21. Worm - This is a computer program that infects other hosts on a network. It often uses the victim’s computer resources for malicious purposes.

22. Zero Day - This is the day that a new computer vulnerability is discovered. Often a patch to correct it has not yet been released.

23. Zombie - This is a type of computer that is connected to the internet and is infected by a virus or controlled by a hacker. It is often part of a botnet (network of bots involved in malicious attacks) Most owners of zombie computers are not aware that someone is using their computer this way.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Lynn Chandler Willis

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Lynn Chandler Willis to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need to throw out: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need for your writing sessions: A playlist created on Spotify specific to that book, and visual images of how I envision my characters.

Things that hamper your writing: Certain songs on said playlist have such an emotional pull on me that I’ll find myself changing the direction of the scene to fit the song.

Things you love about writing: Letting my mind wander with all the what-ifs and when it all comes together in a complete story.

Things you hate about writing: Coming up with character names! The names have to have meaning and contribute to the characterization.

Words that describe you: Warped.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Perfectionist, until I’m not.

Favorite foods: Pizza and anything Mexican. Oh, and Asian! Friday nights are my indulgence nights and I rotate between ordering pizza, Mexican, or Asian. It’s sadly predictable.

Things that make you want to gag: Sardines.

Favorite smell: Fresh linen. Remember the smell of freshly washed sheets air drying on a line in the backyard? Cleanest smell ever!

Something that makes you hold your nose: Certain types of cheese. And I’m a big fan of cheese so that one is tricky.

Something you wish you could do: Stick to an exercise routine.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Play Wordle.

Something you like to do: Walk Finn (my brown border collie) around the farm and easy-to-moderate hikes.

Something you wish you’d never done: Tried hiking a rocky trail up the side of a local mountain. No guardrail––nothing to keep you from falling. It was meant for mountain goats and I’m not a mountain goat. It was terrifying! You know when you’re in that moment of sheer panic that you just can’t move? That was me.

Favorite books (or genre): Anything by William Kent Krueger and/or Tana French

Books you wouldn’t buy: Epic fantasies. This world is hard enough for me to understand.

Most embarrassing moment: Misspelled my own name in a by-line

Proudest moment: When the whole family turned out for my first book signing.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Adopt Finn (the brown border collie) from the shelter

Biggest mistake: Bringing home two sibling, 8-week-old puppies. As much as I love puppies, they’re especially nice when you can enjoy puppy kisses when they belong to someone else.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: I made a difference.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I had a reviewer take me to task for my acknowledgements.

About Lynn:

Lynn Chandler Willis is a best-selling, multi-award-winning author who has worked in the corporate world, the television news industry, and had a thirteen-year run as the owner and publisher of a small-town newspaper. She lives in the heart of North Carolina on a mini-farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, ducks, nine grandkids, a sassy little calico named Jingles, and Finn, a brown border collie known to be the best dog in the world. Seriously.

Let’s Be Social:

Website

Facebook

Book Preorder Link

#WriterWednesday Interview with Glenda Benevides

I’d like to welcome author and musician, Glenda Benevides, to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Words that describe you: Compassionate, thoughtful and understanding - Global Badass Goddess - BADASS B= Beautiful A= Accessible D=Daring A=Abundant S=Savvy S=Sassy

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Sometimes too trusting and I give people the benefit of the doubt too many times and still get taken advantage of.

Favorite places you’ve been: Edinburgh Scotland - the most beautiful and charming city in the world.

Places you never want to go to again: I can always find something I like no matter where I go but I would say most likely, very hot humid places on the planet also places like Oklahoma and TX.

Favorite music or song: Music to me is personal and it is mood driven. Sometimes ya wanna hear romantic or sexy or maybe even chill - just depends. It’s more like “my favorite artist” and that would be Rochelle Ferrell. She’s an extraordinary r&b/jazz soulful singer, songwriter who has it all.

Music that drives you crazy: Most likely makes me Sad, not so Crazy, because music is an art form not just a product to be used only. Music invites you to feel the depths of your own soul, to bring on joy, to dive into thoughts that need to be investigated! Music that has no soul, emotion and is prefabricated is sad and the market is flooded with unfortunate, superficial nonsense.

Things that make you happy: Excellent pizza, great conversation and all animals!

Things that drive you crazy: unorganized lives, messy junked up rooms and people who are always late and have no consideration for others.

Most embarrassing moment: When I was performing in Lake Tahoe on stage, all eyes were on me. I was dancing and missed stepped and landed on my ass with a loud echoing boom through the whole club. I had to get back up and keep going and finish singing my song - I felt embarrassed and wanted to go hide backstage.

Proudest moment: Was accepting an award for my song “Change” and performing it at AOF film festival in LA. https://www.actiononfilmfest.com/

Best thing you’ve ever done: Support a friend going through a dire ruff time and I plant trees every time someone buys my song or a book - One Tree Planted https://onetreeplanted.org/

Buy a Book or a Song = https://glendabenevides.com/courage-handbook-goddess-album

Biggest mistake: I don’t really believe in mistakes but more like, wrong choices from not listening that brings on grief with lessons. I have been con’d many times but I always learn something new about myself and why I chose to not listen to my inner guidance.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Date the wrong person! Just joking… I bungie jumped 250 feet straight down! I was scared to death but I made myself!

Something you chickened out from doing: Not asking Carl Anderson to sing a song I wrote for him and by the time I did, he had passed away. Carl was a singer of film and theater. He was an actor best known for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot in the Broadway and film versions of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

The funniest thing to happen to you: When I stopped looking so hard for a manager and someone to believe in me, and it happened on its own, and they found me.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: Over all is not being prepared for my own podcast interviews! I try not to embarrass myself by being prepared.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Rachelle Ferrell amazing human being! High vibrational spiritual being, musician and more!

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Most people don’t look like their pictures!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That I touched their heart and moved them so much they had to go home and think about what I said.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: That they felt they couldn’t do what it takes to have Courage.

Something you’re really good at: Being with people, giving them the freedom and acceptance for who they are, no judgement in the space. I find people, places and ontology fascinating. Also, singing and telling impactful stories that help people dive into who they are and want to be.

Ontology: branch of philosophy, is the science of what is

Something you’re really bad at: Math

About Glenda:

Glenda Benevides is an Award-winning, RECORDING ACADEMY {#IAmTheAcademy}, Voting Member, and GRAMMY® considered artist and author, is tireless when it comes to inspiring others to embrace their strength, listen to their heart, chart their course, feel inspired and dive into a musical, emotional and thrilling ride. Like a wild tent revival preacher, Glenda’s sermon is empowerment, enlightenment and builds bridges of understanding all wrapped together in powerful vocal expression that sways you from the tip of your head to the toes of your feet!

Let’s Be Social:

Website: glendabenevides.com

Spotify: glenda benevides - https://open.spotify.com/artist/7iEMzMaMTNsw7uw1Ivq59S

IG: glendabenevidesmusic

FB: Glenda Benevides

YOUTUBE: YouTube.com/c/glendabenevides  (interviews and music videos)

To buy music plant a tree: https://bandcamp.com/glendabenevides