<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Author Services]]></title><description><![CDATA[mysite]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/blog-i-write</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 01:30:45 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.sherimcguinn.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Defining Moments: Future in Podunk]]></title><description><![CDATA[James watched the sun slide into the ocean and took another sip of his ginger ale. Maybe his decision to forego alcohol had been hasty. He was only thirty-eight. He was still in good shape, thanks to hitting the gym every morning before work. Work, of course, was not doing so well, not in this economy. Some of his investors had been devastated by the slump, but his own portfolio was already recovering.  ]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/defining-moments-future-in-podunk</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fd31e643506d500174d6de0</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:46:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_ad65e1857cea44199a97a553de582e74~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_600,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Silence in the City]]></title><description><![CDATA[My twelve-year-old is handling this better than me.
The garbage can is overflowing with bags that can’t contain the rancid smell of rotting food. I go by my car for one more try. I’m surprised Tanya hasn’t already suggested going to her mother’s community – I have to start thinking of it that way, so I don’t call it a cult again. Still nothing – the car may as well be a rock for all the good it will do us. I sit back against the seat and one tear slides past my blinking eyes and down my cheek. ]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/silence-in-the-city</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a15707f60764a2e99176949</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 10:48:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_65aa383e9ced433b91bfa65cca7b1285~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_375,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[beach Party - first kiss]]></title><description><![CDATA[Teens, a bonfire at the beach - a sweet story of a girl's first kiss.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/beach-party-first-kiss</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a013737b1ac8cd94fa7fe12</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 04:15:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_1981f147b86140719542f67ba50a9a4c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_450,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Greeting Committee]]></title><description><![CDATA[When you die at the Stormcove, you go through intake, then stay at the Stormcove until you get used to being dead and are ready to transition - or stay. Rob, Annie, and Virginia are the Greeting Committee, awaiting four new residents.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/the-greeting-committee</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ddcfab274b4f0764ce2e99</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:47:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_7fa4107229a5400db3913a5263ab4c9f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_341,h_450,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Subscribe to Sheri McGuinn - I write - take two]]></title><description><![CDATA[I started the weekly newsletter  several months ago and it's been arriving in subscriber mailboxes every Tuesday morning. However, now that I've added indie book reviews and started doing more with images, it's eating a large chunk of time I should be using to write other things - and I found I don't always have fresh "heads up" tidbits for writers, either. So, I'm skipping this Tuesday (2/17) and going to a second-and-fourth-Tuesday schedule. Instead of weekly, it will arrive twice a month....]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/why-subscribe-take-two</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69924b59884976137da7b555</guid><pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 22:51:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_5c016af99aaf4abb96f1f5d38c42ae0b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_900,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[the Order of Eight]]></title><description><![CDATA[“I’m only here to please my mother. I tell her I’m not a child anymore, I’m an independent, self-supporting adult. But she still worries.”
“So you’re here to alleviate your mother’s concerns.”
Typical shrink talk. 
They were sitting facing each other across a narrow table, apparently the doctor’s workspace, papers and pens scattered all about.
Jasper fidgeted nervously. What kind of therapist is this? Can’t he afford a couch? “There’s nothing wrong with me. I just like order in my environment.” ]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/order-of-eight</link><guid isPermaLink="false">698a28698883eba719b04289</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 04:55:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_1794195d1f8247238b9fc7c9653d4c40~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_337,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Familiar Strangers]]></title><description><![CDATA[I peeked through the lashes of one eye while the nurse talked with a stranger. I’d been playing possum ever since I woke up in the hospital.
“Is she unconscious?”  The stranger wore a business suit, nicer than most caseworkers wore--a lawyer maybe? Her stiff posture was topped by square shoulders and a weathered face made more severe by the pull of silver hair tightly skinned back.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/familiar-strangers</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69815977aa13a366d93ba039</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 06:52:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_f843d4215d6948de85575ea1da62facf~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_450,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Death &#38; Evil in Ponderosa Pines]]></title><description><![CDATA[Death and evil, that’s what she felt pouring at her from the forest.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/death-and-evil-ponderosa-pines</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69787c8cdd0b91374a3267a9</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:07:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_ce4835e68b2a451eb39e681e6691d90c~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_450,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Spectre - a spooky romantic story]]></title><description><![CDATA[It was a dream, not a nightmare. She hadn’t been frightened, but she needed to know who had been with her and why she had been running and where she was going. The specter was a benevolent presence; there had been some other reason she was racing through that maze. But the details faded too quickly for her to grasp them.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/the-spectre-a-spooky-romantic-story</link><guid isPermaLink="false">696ed855423c15f2e1efd839</guid><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:00:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_712b4856c5b84d2aa4e25fe85b4037d2~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_260,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Jack’s Story - 1967]]></title><description><![CDATA[Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. This one was posted in my substack newsletter before I started doing audio there and linking them to read here. Jack is Alice's hippie father in the novella Alice. He's talking to us about his own history here. When I got home from ‘Nam, all I wanted to do was forget all of it and find something good. My high school sweetheart had gotten knocked up and married while I was slogging through...]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/jack-s-story-1967</link><guid isPermaLink="false">693fd095a3f48589812a3675</guid><pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 09:13:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_6c5bcdf98d9440da811a2eb6b66c17ca~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_151,h_227,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Call to Action - Send your indie book for review! Updated with rules.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Updated 3/22/2026 In my newsletter,  I've been reviewing indies readers might never find. I've discovered I need to set standards for submission. I do not like writing negative reviews, but I do not want to encourage unprofessional publishing, either. Therefore, before you contact me about your book, see if it meets these criteria: Before You Query It has been published DIY indie, hybrid, or small press - anything but the major publishers. You guarantee the book is your original work, not...]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/call-to-action-send-me-your-indie-book-to-review</link><guid isPermaLink="false">692e7dd25602d55b6723e34d</guid><pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 06:02:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_936dcfe7642e4cb788d583da37fd0313~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_500,h_504,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why subscribe?]]></title><description><![CDATA[If you subscribe (for free) at https://sherimcguinn.substack.com/  it gets delivered to your inbox one time per week and I know right away how many people are opening it = positive reinforcement = good. I'll be posting there each week instead of here. The biggest difference is that the substack newsletter is going to be geared for writers AND readers every week. Blog posts here were sometimes just a review of a book, or a review with notes for writers, or just for writers, or a piece of new...]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/switching-to-newsletter</link><guid isPermaLink="false">687f4f0f7a5bc82a93605d68</guid><pubDate>Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:43:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_ca9d52ca90104405bdf15bc8de7b26f4~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_519,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[catch-up on reviews]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Graphic Novel I'm a year behind in writing book reviews. Many of the books I read were popular and have no need for my support, so I'll just mention a few I really enjoyed. Derf Backderf's Kent State - the first graphic novel I've read! Yes, I read comic books as a kid. Graphic novels, at least this one, go WAY past that. He did a phenomenal amount of research and presented the events from multiple points of view. This was a key event in my lifetime. I'm shocked at the young people I've met...]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/catchup-on-reviews</link><guid isPermaLink="false">67a521bee2eea83d1190534a</guid><category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2025 22:10:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_2bcb7f80456e47729db2f18571862be2~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_793,h_359,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ouch]]></title><description><![CDATA[Well, I sm typing leftie because I broke my right clavicle when the gravel got me coming down a small slope. Ouch. Fortunately, shoulder's fine and I was able to walk. Pain is minimal - I'll take a broken bone over soft tissue injury any day. But I am taking it easy for a week or two, let the healing begin. Copyright Sheri McGuinn]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/_ouch</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65d2e35dfc4837a4c824e9d2</guid><category><![CDATA[Other Stuff]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 19 Feb 2024 05:13:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_34ea44dd66b2452db626eb40195de285~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Down sides of Critique]]></title><description><![CDATA[While I advocate participating in a critique group to test your writing and get constructive feedback, there are down sides of critique.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/the-down-sides-of-critique</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65cc3612cede69921be297a7</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Life]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:34:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_eaa4b8ed991141a6be2ceb5a23843ab3~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Comes First when You are Writing?]]></title><description><![CDATA[There's no iron-clad rule saying what comes first when you are writing. I throw my characters into a situation and see how they deal with it]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/what-comes-first-when-you-are-writing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65a4f12058babb07cbce6083</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Life]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2024 06:14:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_6771d89d5c9845d2b22e66414951da01~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Free Webinars]]></title><description><![CDATA[Free webinars may be a sales pitch - that doesn't mean they're useless. Webinars by Carla King and Rob Eagar discussed with resource links.]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/free-webinars</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65c3ebc9cedf89c5b0e77c5b</guid><pubDate>Thu, 08 Feb 2024 07:07:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_2e8906451a2e433cb50eae20fb2f6094~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_600,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sometimes a character takes over the story]]></title><description><![CDATA[Every character has a bit of the writer in there - even villains. Sometimes a character develops in unexpected ways and takes over the story]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/sometimes-a-character-takes-over-the-story</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65a4f28102d83a3c60114685</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Life]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 05 Feb 2024 06:25:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_6771d89d5c9845d2b22e66414951da01~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[How Much Description]]></title><description><![CDATA[In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King says "Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's."]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/how-much-description</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65a4f172601f7fa3d99fa332</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Life]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 01 Feb 2024 06:31:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_2e8906451a2e433cb50eae20fb2f6094~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_600,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Writing Daily?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Are you serious about writing if you're not writing daily?... I am a project-based worker. I can maintain a regular writing routine for a 

]]></description><link>https://www.sherimcguinn.com/post/writing-daily</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65a4edc0c397acb479d8c7f9</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Life]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jan 2024 06:17:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cc254d_6771d89d5c9845d2b22e66414951da01~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sheri McGuinn</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>