by kristinoakley | Apr 20, 2023 | Books and Movies, For Readers, Newsletter
In this month’s Writer’s Book Club, I review Stephen King’s novel, Fairy Tale, read by Seth Numrich, who does a terrific job narrating the audiobook. It’s now one of my top ten favorite King books. In Fairy Tale, Charlie Reade is seven when a...
by kristinoakley | Apr 6, 2023 | Creativity & Craft, For Writers, Newsletter
On March 25th, 2023, I presented my “Characters Who Jump Off the Page” workshop at the Chicago Writers Association’s Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference. The workshop was successful based on the eighty attendees’ rapt...
by kristinoakley | Mar 23, 2023 | Newsletter, Writing Life
Once authors complete their manuscripts, they decide whether to publish traditionally or independently. The traditional route involves finding an agent who then sells the manuscript to a publisher. It also encompasses smaller presses that will often take submissions...
by kristinoakley | Mar 10, 2023 | Books and Movies, Newsletter
In this month’s Writer’s Book Club, I review Junot Diaz’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I had seen this book on bookstore and library shelves over the years, picked it up, considered getting it, then put it...
by kristinoakley | Feb 24, 2023 | Books and Movies, Newsletter
Lately, I’ve been hooked on stories that mess with my mind. Not psychological thrillers, though I do love those, but stories that bend the rules of reality. For instance, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (see my Writer’s Book Club for more about that...
by kristinoakley | Feb 9, 2023 | Books and Movies, For Readers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
I finally finished reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, and I’m glad I did. The book interweaves five stories across many centuries. The stories are connected around the parable of Aethon and his search for the mythical Cloud Cuckoo Land. The book begins...
