Tag Archives: janet evanovich

How I Write by Janet Evanovich and Ina Yalof

How I Write by Janet Evanovich and Ina Yalof (unabridged audiobook, multiple readers): I am not very familiar with Evanovich’s work. I read One for the Money and thought it was cute but felt no special desire to read anything else by her. However, I am always curious to hear what bestselling authors have to say about writing since obviously something they are doing is working. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Evanovich takes us from character development all the way through book tours in a light, funny question-and-answer format. She is realistic about the publication process (she collected rejection slips for ten years before publishing her first book) while remaining optimistic and upbeat about the entire journey. It’s also quite thorough: since the questions come from ten years of reader emails, even minutia like webpage design, paper quality for manuscripts, and transitions are covered, and in the back there is a list of references. This is one of the few books I would recommend all aspiring authors to keep on hand. I borrowed it from the library but I plan on getting my own copy soon. That’s high praise from someone who almost never rereads books.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich: Stephanie Plum is flat broke – she was laid off from her job, her car was repossessed, and she’s slowly pawning off everything she owns just to make ends meet. In order to get some much-needed cash, she starts working for her bondsman cousin as a bounty hunter. Her first FTA (Failure-To-Appear) is Joe Morelli, an old sorta-fling from high school. She finds him almost immediately, and he laughs in her face when he learns she’s on his tail, easily and repeatedly slipping through her fingers. From there she meets a couple of smart-mouthed hookers, gets stalked by a rapist/champion boxer, and generally runs into a lot of trouble. I don’t read many mysteries, so it was a little disappointing that I connected most of the dots over a hundred pages before Stephanie did, but it was a light, fast-paced story with a lot of humor and a fair bit of suspense (even if the biggest worry was that someone would walk in and embarrass Stephanie – again). If you want a quick read with some really funny narration, pick this one up, but don’t be surprised if you’re guessing much of the ending by about halfway through.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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