Apr 13, 20203 minNature and MysteryThis snapshot (below) was taken on my way to a skate ski in Grand Teton National Park on a recent stunning April morning. After driving...
Apr 5, 20204 minMy Vocabulary Can Never Express my Relationship with Nature - by Pamela BeasonI and my partners in crime (writing) here at Free RangeWriters, Gregory Zeigler and Dave Butler, were recently honored to have all three...
Mar 24, 20203 minDave’s Top 10 Ways that Environmental Mysteries Influence Conservation (and vice versa) Dave Butler For this week’s post, I thought it would be both fun and illuminating to think about how environmental mysteries can influence...
Mar 15, 20204 minLove (of writing) in the Time of CovidWith apologies to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'm not going to say much about the pandemic. I promise. But as I write this, I'm missing a...
Mar 4, 20203 minTaking the FlackMost authors love to hear from readers, and we are especially grateful for reviews, but sometimes the negative messages we receive are...
Feb 17, 20203 minThe Goldilocks Rule of Research by Gregory ZeiglerIn this cycle of February posts, Free Range Partner Pam wrote about what she had learned from her travel. Partner Dave wrote about his...
Feb 9, 20203 minBalancing ActBy Dave Butler 5 a.m. arrives extremely early. In the summer, when the sun rises at the same time, it’s tolerable. But in the winter...
Feb 3, 20202 minThings I've Learned from TravelI’m preparing to go on an international trip soon, so I’ve been thinking about all the things I’ve experienced on my travels. As Rick...
Jan 19, 20203 minWriting Like a Photographer By Dave Butler Imagine that you’re a landscaper photographer, visiting the west slopes of the Rocky Mountains for the first time. If...
Jan 13, 20203 minPursuit of the Perfect Scene by Gregory ZeiglerIn my last effort for the Free Rangers posted in the final month of the previous decade (12/15/19) I introduced my scene checker, a legal...
Jan 5, 20202 minWhy I Can't Write Cozy MysteriesCozy mysteries are generally set in a small town with a cast of quirky characters and little violence. Murders are often depicted as a...
Dec 21, 20193 minA Few Good ChallengesBy Dave Butler Throw them a challenge! That simple piece of advice remains one of the best I’ve received from other mystery writers in...
Dec 16, 20191 minScene Checker by Gregory ZeiglerRare as Earth gets a checkup. I'm working on a final edit of my novel in process, Rare as Earth. A list, entitled "Scene Checker,"sits...
Dec 7, 20193 minMaintaining FocusLately I’ve been reading a lot of books written by inexperienced writers, and this has made me think back to my early days as a novelist....
Nov 10, 20196 minFiction for the planet: renowned authors of environmental mysteries discuss passions and process.We’re All in This Together - by Pamela Beason We have only one planet, and trillions of creatures need to live on it. Why should humans...
Oct 21, 20193 min50 Shades of GrayThe Role of Theme and Plot in Environmental Mysteries By Dave Butler Building on Pam and Greg’s reflections on theme and plot, I find the...
Oct 13, 20194 minThis theme is deep (as in Grand Canyon deep) by Gregory ZeiglerAs she is wont to do, Free Range Writer partner Pamela got me thinking about plots and themes in my novels. Let's look at my first, That...
Oct 7, 20192 minOf Plots and ThemesEvery novel has a plot, which is the story line (what happens). But most good novels also have a theme, which is the underlying message...
Sep 15, 20194 minWherefore Art Thou?Following on the heels of Pam and Greg’s intriguing posts, I am often asked by readers and other writers about where I write. For me,...
Sep 8, 20193 minA Few Tips and a War Story by Gregory Zeigler I'm following my friend Pam's post with a few tips of my own about writing a novel. I'll conclude with a war story about the dreaded...
_PNG.png)
