Susan specializes in entrepreneurial mindsets, she has written several non-fiction business books, and now writes novels under a top secret pen name.
Understanding the Power of Writing in Today's World Turn on the news. Read a paper. Scroll through social media. No matter where you go, it’s hard to avoid today’s world. It seeps in through your pores even when you try your best to switch everything off....
Seasonal Themes in Literature This issue falls as autumn begins, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. But writers invariably set Christmas-themed books amid images of pine trees laden with snowy boughs, despite 50 percent of the world experiencing the height of summer on December 25. It is a statement to...
Susan Odev When Mark Dawson made his clarion call for volunteers to help backstage and front-of-house for the Self Publishing Show Live event, held June 28 and 29 in London’s South Bank, I hesitated to raise my hand. The inaugural event, back in 2020, heralded the start of lockdown,...
Understanding the Cozy Mystery Genre In her book Writing the Cozy Mystery, Nancy J. Cohen defines a cozy as a “whodunit featuring an amateur sleuth, a distinctive setting and a limited number of suspects ... ” When challenged, many authors will simply respond, think Murder She Wrote or Agatha Christie. Simply, a...
SMART Goals Aren't Always The Smartest Before I was a writer, in the days when I earned a living training public and private sector workers how to manage their time, their teams, or themselves more effectively, I would advise everyone I met that the secret to goal setting...
Alfred Hitchcock famously said, "I think everyone enjoys a nice murder, provided he is not the victim." In reality, there is no such thing as a nice murder or a perfect murder but, in writing, there can be the “right” murder. The death that best suits the victim&...
