DAN ALATORRE

Here are some highlights from a blog post at The Passive Voice. The remarks come from a traditionally published author. 5 Reasons To Self Publish (Edited for highlights I fund interesting, emphasis added – Dan) Unless you deliver an ‘approved manuscript’ your book won’t even be published. That means there’s subtle pressure on you to […]

We build our house under a bunch of trees that were infested with wolf spiders. Those are about 3″ long but not fuzzy like tarantulas. After they put the roof on I went around with a flashlight and a hand vacuum and sucked ‘em all up, about 50 SPIDERS!!! Then I went to empty the […]

Originally posted on Sacha Black:
At 1:04am, on the 20th of August, after exactly 292 days or 41 weeks and 5 days of writing my first draft of my novel, I wrote those two long awaited words… ‘The End’. I was in bed, in the dark, laptop on my knees, with my sleeping beauty of…

HOW I CAME TO KNOW WHAT I’M ABOUT TO TELL YOU I used to have a job where I drove around a lot. My wife would get in my car and wonder why I never listened to music, and it was because you can only hear the same five songs so many times before you […]

Originally posted on C.S. Wilde:
A few months ago, I sent my last query letter to an agent. I knew I wanted to get my work out there, but it was clear as day it wouldn’t be through the traditional way, so I focused on indie publishing. As time passed, I got more and…

By the time I had the MS done for my first book, it was so long it could’ve been two books – so I cut it in half and released book 2 shortly after book 1. (It/they were a compilation of vignettes about family humor so I could do that.) Book 3 followed shortly thereafter, […]

This is a LONG one. Wade through it. Dear Dan, My blog sucks and I’m kinda clueless about what to do with it…” Okay, nobody said that… directly. Indirectly, LOTS of you have. And lots of blogs scream it. Not to worry. I’m here to help. I’ve been reading a lot of other authors’ blogs […]

Originally posted on One Hot-Flashin' Mama:
We just got back from a week in the sunshine state and though the holiday was fantastic, a long-hidden belief of mine was affirmed: theme parks are evil.  To celebate my hatred of all things chaotic, overpriced and soulless, we decided to spend our last day of vacation at a popular theme…

Do you write while doing the dishes? Or running on the treadmill? I do. (We recently discussed how to write better stories HERE) When I get into a story or I’m stuck on a plot problem, it haunts my head. I’m thinking about it all the time. We’re chatting at preschool dropoff, but I’m thinking […]

People ask why I often refer to movies when I talk about books. Here’s why: If a million people read a book, it’s a runaway best seller. If only a million people see a movie, it’s a flop. Movies reach a much larger audience than books, so it’s a more common point of reference.