I have a week and a half until my children’s schools let out for the summer. This time last year, I was completely horrified at that realization. This year? Not so much. Because [...]

First of all, I’d like to make a little plug for my upcoming release, Delicious and Suspicious, written under my Riley Adams pen name. Today, my book is reviewed on Mason Canyon’s book [...]

This is a subject I haven’t worked out for myself yet, but I’ve been thinking about it. There are definitely some authors that, when you say their name, you get an image of [...]

Writing a novel is often compared to running a marathon – the necessary training, tenacity, endurance, passion, and sheer will to finish are shared by both endeavors.  I trained for a marathon but [...]

Sometimes I read books and the protagonists just leave me completely cold. The books frequently have plenty of conflict. Bad things happen to these characters and we’re supposed, as readers, to care about [...]

An author, or aspiring author, website or blog plays a lot of important roles. We can entice new readers, sell books, and generally offer a professional image of ourselves to people in the [...]

Yesterday I was cooking and opened a cabinet for a Corningware dish. It wasn’t there. After a lot of looking, I found it in a completely different location of the kitchen in a [...]

This past weekend I ran into a couple of different artists selling their work. The first time I was at (of all places) Walmart. There was a man in the parking lot, approaching [...]

My friend Jan asked me yesterday to elaborate a little more on Twitter—mostly how to make connections to share her blog posts with a wider audience of readers. So let’s say you’re on [...]

Here are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter for the past 7 days. If you’re looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top [...]

“Where do you get your story ideas?” “Are any of your characters based on yourself or people you know?” The above are the two most frequently asked questions I hear from readers. The [...]

Yes, I have finished the synopsis I was asked to write and am now working on my three sample chapters for the possible new series. Well, “finished” is maybe too strong of a [...]

When I was a younger mom, I ruined several loads of laundry by forgetting to check my pockets before tossing my stuff in the washing machine. Now I’ve gotten used to the drill [...]

Yesterday I couldn’t seem to get anything done. My focus was completely shot. And…naturally…I’m under a deadline. A couple of them, actually. I’d start working on my synopsis and the phone would ring. [...]

Mystery writer and blogger Jean Henry Mead ran an interview Saturday with thriller writer Chris Grabenstein. The entire interview was interesting (this is a guy who used to write for the Muppet Show…and [...]

Did you read the recent story about Keith Richards? It wasn’t anything scandalous this time. No inappropriate behavior. It was the fact that he’d always had a secret longing to be a librarian [...]

Update: Well, shoot! May have been some miscommunication between Janice and me…and I’ve been scatty enough lately to suspect it could be on my side! When the post goes live, I’ll connect us [...]

Here are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter for the past 7 days. If you’re looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top [...]

Today I’d like to welcome fellow Midnight Ink author Joanna Campbell Slan to the blog. Joanna is an Agatha Award nominee and her Photo, Snap, Shot, the third book in the Kiki Lowenstein [...]

I was at my son’s middle school last week, picking him up early for an appointment. I sat in the office with a clear view of the hall. Whenever I’m able to see [...]

Since I’m working up a new book, I’ve got to have a brand-new, completely different protagonist. When I’m working on a protagonist, one of two things usually happens…the protagonist is just immediately known [...]

I’m not an outliner. And I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had to write a synopsis for a couple of years. But suddenly I’ve been requested to write a full synopsis and 3 [...]

I’ll say straight out that non-writers are frequently not sure what to make of the writing life. Why would someone put so much time, research, and energy into something that pays so little? [...]

Pictures from the 2010 Malice Domestic conference held last weekend in Washington, DC. I had a fantastic time, met many online friends in person, spoke with some wonderful mystery readers, attended and sat [...]

Once again, I’m posting writing links that I previously posted to Twitter. The idea of doing this isn’t to overwhelm anyone. But I thought that if I kept track of these writing links [...]

When I was at the Malice Domestic conference last weekend, I had a chance to talk with an author who currently has a successful series with a major publisher. When I was introduced [...]

Conferences are very good for making you think about your long-term plans. There are writers there that have been published for the past 20 to 30 years…and there are writers who are just [...]

I felt a little out of touch with my North Carolina life while I was in DC at Malice Domestic. My cell phone decided that it wouldn’t charge with either of my two [...]

Writers’ roles in book promotion have changed a lot in the last twenty years. Instead of being expected merely to write and edit, they’re looked at as partners in the publicity process. If [...]

I’d actually planned on putting some great photos on this particular blog post—but then realized as I’m here at the Malice Domestic conference in Washington, DC, that apparently I didn’t pack the cord [...]