Peter Reynard's Blog

I’m very excited to announce that the site is moving over to its own domain. If you have writebywriting bookmarked and/or are subscribing to any of the feeds please head on over to www.peterreynard.com/blogand sign up. And of course, please let me know any comments or thoughts you have about the new site.

Photo by Eirik Stavelin

We are past the halfway mark on Crime Fiction Alphabet joyride.If you are unfamiliar with CFA, it is a challenge run by Kerrie over atMysteries in Paradise, so head on there and sign up, or click on some links and read what others have to say. This is my second time on this ride and I have chosen to focus on topics related to crime fiction rather than books and/or authors.

Every once in a while I come across a writing tool that is actually pretty cool. Yarnyis a web-based editor that has some nice features like auto save, a place to put down notes like character names and other research stuff, and a place for writing snippets that you may want to use later at a different part of the document. All in all it seems pretty neat.

BTW, I’m in no way affiliated with Yarny.

It’s time to sharpen your knives and start carving the 13th letter of the alphabet on the Crime Fiction Alphabet pumpkin.If you are unfamiliar with CFA, it is a challenge run by Kerrie over atMysteries in Paradise, so head on there and sign up, or click on some links and read what others have to say. This is my second time on this merry-go-round and I have chosen to focus on topics related to crime fiction rather than books and/or authors.

In the United States and in certain oth...

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A few years ago I developed a couple of Android apps as a hobby. They were niche apps that did barely ok; the free one had about 9,000 downloads while the paid one had about 300. A few weeks ago, I self-published The Natural Victim, my first book (a mystery novella). As of today it has about 600 free downloads and a single sale.

Thinking back about my app experience and comparing it to my writing experience, I realized that there were a surprising number of...

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It’s stop number 12 on the Crime Fiction Alphabet Express.If you are unfamiliar with CFA, it is a challenge run by Kerrie over atMysteries in Paradise, so head on there and sign up, or click on some links and read what others have to say. This is my second time on this Loop-de-loopand I have chosen to focus on topics related to crime fiction rather than books and/or authors.

A lie detector or Polygraph is commonly used in investigativ...

J. David Core

One of the best parts about blogging is getting to meet otherwriters,bloggers and reviewers. One fellow blogger (and writer and reviewer) who is new to me is J. David Core. He is the author of Extreme Unction, a mystery set in Pittsburgh, and the scifi novel Synthetic Blood and Tears. His many writing credits include pieces for Pitt News and Smile Magazine, the Buzz On series of informational Books and the Western online anthology. He blogs about his thoughts on writing, and revi...

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Everyone has their favorite editor. Some use pen and paper. Many use Word, or a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++. Others use online tools like Google Docs. I have tried all of the above and finally settled on Emacs. For those who haven’t heard of Emacs, it’s a highly customizable editor that is used for a variety of tasks from writing text to writing code and everything in between. As the late Billy Mays used to say, “But wait! There’s more!” You can u...

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I had to take a sabbatical from the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme but I’m back this week. If you are unfamiliar with CFA, it is a challenge run by Kerrie over atMysteries in Paradise, so head on there and sign up, or click on some links and read what others have to say. This is my second time at this Karnival (I had to begin with a K!) and I have chosen to focus on topics related to crime fiction rather than books and/or authors.

Real...

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If you haven’t heard already, Google Reader is going offline at the end of June. I have been looking at a few alternatives and here’s what I found:

Feedly – Probably the most popular of the lot. It is very slick but I didn’t like it because it just throws too much stuff at you. I don’t want fancy gadgets and animations and three hundred buttons (Get off my lawn!). That said, Feedly has everything covered, including apps for iOS and Android and all that...