Sometimes a task can be easier if you make yourself a checklist to ensure you’re covering all your bases.  With that idea in mind, here’s a brief checklist you might want to [...]

To me, one of the most fun things about reading a mystery is the puzzle. I love finding the clues along with my sleuth…and being misdirected by the author’s red herrings. I also [...]

I know there are a lot of writers who have a germ of an idea for a mystery novel. Most of them are mystery readers and feel like, if they can just get [...]

Okay, I’m intending this post to be a warning to all you parents out there.  PLAN YOUR QUIET WRITING TIME IN ADVANCE!  I managed to do this during the summer, but for some [...]

Okay, I know that rejection is no laughing matter.  But if you’re an active writer (i.e., you have finished a manuscript, article, something else that’s ready to submit), then you’ve probably experienced your [...]

A while back I referenced “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories” as a great tool for mystery writers to use when working on their manuscript.  It is a great tool and offers advice [...]

Okay, here’s the situation. I’ve just come back from a fun, but busy, weekend out of town. I returned to a bunch of laundry, suitcases to unpack, school forms to sign and return, [...]

There was an interesting post at the Editorial Ass blog recently that you can read here: Editorial Ass: how does a stay-at-home mom go about creating a platform? Want to build a name [...]

I love Agatha Christie stories for lots of reasons:  the familiar sleuths (Miss Marple , Tommy and Tuppence, Hercule Poirot), I love the coziness of the locations (the small village, the large country [...]