While I was looking for blog posts to tweet last week, I came across a site where a blogger was particularly dejected over a rejection. The blogger had met an agent at a [...]

I don’t know what it is about me lately, but I’ve been a difficult reader to please. I think it’s the fact that I’ve been unusually busy since late-July. But it seems to [...]

Here are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter for the past week. There are fewer this week because I went on tweetcation for the Thanksgiving holiday. :) If you’re looking for a [...]

The writing life is a tough one for many reasons…and it doesn’t help that friends and family don’t completely get what we’re doing. But still, most of us get some support from the [...]

On this day after Thanksgiving, I thought I’d take a minute to celebrate some of the facets of writing that I’m really thankful for.  Lots of times my writing challenges get center stage [...]

Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. I’m going to be celebrating the day here at home with my family and parents. I’ve lots to be thankful for today—and I’m [...]

We’re having some painting done inside our house.  Years of children with sticky hands have taken their toll on our walls.  :) While the painters were here, the owner said to me, “Would [...]

I was volunteering in my daughter’s classroom on Friday for a Thanksgiving party for 4th grade.  While I was in there (supposedly setting out snack supplies so the kids could make their own [...]

My 8th grade son has really enjoyed his Language Arts class (what the schools are calling English these days) the last couple of years. His teacher actually moved up from 7th grade to [...]

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

There was an article that ran this week on the Genreality blog by urban fantasy author Carrie Vaughn entitled “Things I Didn’t Expect About Writing Full-Time.” I thought it was really interesting because [...]

After so many years of setting the clock back, you’d think I’d expect the changes. But each fall I’m surprised how dark it is in the late afternoon. Every morning I’m surprised how [...]

I haven’t run a post on negotiating your own contract for a while, and received a recent email from a writer looking for resources on the subject. I did negotiate my first contract [...]

I really never thought I’d be writing a post like this, but I have to admit that I really like the Kindle. I was definitely not expecting to like it—for several reasons. One [...]

If you think about it, every trait, even the good ones, can be taken too far or have a flipside to it. What if our good traits start to work against us and [...]

Hope you’ll all welcome fellow Midnight Ink author Julia Buckley to Mystery Writing is Murder today! Julia’s Madeline Mann, which Kirkus called “a bright debut” is now available on Kindle. My writer’s group [...]

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

Every night at bedtime, I make up a story for my daughter. She loves them.  But she’s a very picky listener.  She prefers stories centered around her favorite cat, Shadow.  With the magic [...]

I think I’ve put off posting about Twitter, except for my weekly tweet roundup. For a while, I’ve gotten some hints from tweeters that I should have a sort of Twitter Manifesto. :) [...]

I’ll admit that as I’m writing, I keep half an eye on my word count. It used to mess me up to do that. But now, I think it’s like checking my speedometer [...]

Before I emailed the Memphis 3 manuscript to my agent on Monday, I followed a checklist of problems to look for and things to do before submitting the document. I tried to read [...]

Part of my busy weekend last weekend involved travel. :) I visited San Diego with my college roommate—just to go somewhere that was scenic and relaxing, that we hadn’t visited before. But I [...]

A few times lately, I’ve heard writers who’ve gotten a great idea for a story—or a fully-formed character—at an inconvenient time. Usually right when they’re in the middle of another book. The phenomenon [...]

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

Hi everybody! I’ve got a real busy Friday and Saturday planned—and will be putting the finishing touches on Memphis book 3 before sending it to my agent on Monday. I’ll be back Sunday [...]

It’s pretty much just one of those things. The truth is that I never consciously decided to become a crime author. Back in the eighties, working for magazines, the editors needed someone to [...]

I do a lot of skimming as I’m looking for blogs to tweet on Twitter. Sometimes I stop and read the post carefully—and that was the case with a blog post on Work [...]

Never has food and wine been so popular among American culture. Cable and network TV is filled with cooking, wine, and travel shows. Food and drink play very important roles in my books. [...]

I heard from a few folks regarding the fact that there wasn’t a post from me on Saturday. Which is nice because y’all know I always post, every day…unless I say I’m not [...]