A Nice Example of Karma

Author Timothy Hallinan is a nice guy. See him at www.timothyhallinan.com. He is the kind of author who likes helping newbies reach up and grab the bottom rung of the professional ladder. It’s not beneath him to lend a helping hand.

On his website, he has a summary of his year. What I’d like to point out is not only did Tim have a good year professionally, he also had a good year as a humanitarian. I’d like to think the two are connected somehow in this great cosmos of ours. That’s karma at work.

Taken from Tim’s web site:

“It’s been quite a year so far.

THE QUEEN OF PATPONG, the fourth Poke Rafferty thriller, was nominated for two major awards, the Edgar and the Macavity.

I finished and put online the second book in my ebook series of Junior Bender Mysteries, LITTLE ELVISES.  This one was a lot of fun to write, and I hope it’s also fun to read.

It was my pleasure to contribute a story to BANGKOK NOIR, a collection of stories set in the Big Mango – written by some remarkable storytellers, and for a great cause—taking care of Bangkok’s poorest children.

And finally, moved by the ongoing tragedy in Japan, I edited an e-book collection of original short stories by twenty of our finest mystery writers.  SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN went online for the Amazon Kindle on the three-month anniversary of the disaster.  We’re all proud to have made a small contribution to putting people’s world, and their lives, where possible, back together.”

My hope is that I, too, will use my skills, influence and/ or success to help others. My thanks to Tim for being a role model.

 

Visiting the Blog Cabin

Author Timothy Hallinan writes and teaches. He has kindly offered words of wisdom to me in the past and encouraged my dream. He has been my modern day pen pal via the Internet.

He loves to share wisdom; he shares his own and that of other professional writers who have success scars from a bruising ascent. He offers insights on a web site called “The Blog Cabin.”

On March 27^th, Hallinan posted an interview with author Jean Henry Mead, a national award-winning photojournalist. Mead has written 17 books in all.

Her recent work is The Mystery Writers, Interviews and Advice. It features interviews with 60 mystery writers, many of them best-selling authors.

Hallinan asked Mead:

As a writer yourself, are there any answers that you’ve found especially helpful?In my latest book, The Mystery Writers, there are many articles of writing advice that I wish had been available when I first attempted to write fiction during in the early 1990s. Most of the authors agreed that persistence is more important than writing talent and that outlining is the best way to begin a novel, although most of them don’t. That characterization trumps plot and humor is a necessary element in even the darkest noir, among many other great gems of advice.

Check out this interview and others at http://www.timothyhallinan.com/blog/?p=5835#more-5835

A Golden Oldie Re: Tim Hallinan

Re-posted from Dream Station, first written in March 2010:

Real Tools for the Writer at Tim Hallinan’s Blog Cabin

     A friend told me about the Tim Hallinan web site at http://www.timothyhallinan.com/. Click on “The Blog Cabin” to find an abundance of information from writing tips to getting published to learning the hard way in the real world of making a living as a writer. Kudos to Tim for putting the information out there for the rest of us! It’s great stuff.