February 5th, 2020

Time and the DVD Shortcut

by James Preston

Time is your friend . . . and your enemy.

You can never have enough. Yet it can stretch, minutes to seeming hours, in a boring movie that your date loves. It can race by when you’re writing to meet a deadline.… Read the post

February 17th, 2017

Drive On, Writers - Reasons to Keep Plugging

Posted In:
Blogging Guests | Inspiration

James Preston
I want to tell you a story. No, not one I wrote, one I lived. This story is an illustration of a lifetime of reading, and a story that I bet you read and say, “Why, yes, I remember a book like that.”… Read the post

April 8th, 2015

Reading as a Writer -- Is It Different?

Posted In:
Blogging Guests | Craft

James Preston

When I was growing up I read a lot.

I had a pattern, a way that I approached books that just evolved sort of on its own. I'd read for a while, get to a really good part and then go off and do something else, something mindless.… Read the post

December 1st, 2014

Writing Conference Wisdom: A Whirlwind of Speed Dating

Posted In:
Writer's Life

James Preston

We write to entertain, to share our experience, or because we have a story that simply must be told. But it's not easy. Let's be honest. If you studied piano for the same number of hours you put into your writing you could at least pound out "Jingle Bells" at the company party.… Read the post

July 13th, 2012

Slicing the Salami ~ When Is It DONE?

Posted In:
Blogging Guests | Craft

Writers in the Storm welcomes James R. Preston, mystery writer, for our Friday the 13th blog. Could be scary stuff, but personally, I think James is part comedy writer, and we couldn't be luckier to have his help with a question we've all wrestled with.… Read the post