I’m probably not the easiest friend to have. That’s because I really don’t enjoy going out. Honestly, if it weren’t for my children and their plethora of activities (and multitudinous errands), I’d probably [...]

Happy 4th of July to my friends in the States (and Happy Monday to everyone else!) :) Hope everyone has a great day.  I think I’ve got some fireworks fatigue (late night last [...]

Below are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter in the past week. Hope you’ll enter this month’s WKB giveaway for a chance to win the “Butt-in-Chair” writer productivity eBook by Jennifer Blanchard. [...]

I’m doing something a little different today, since it’s the July 4th weekend here in the States. I’ve tweeted some writing worksheets I came across lately and they received good play on Twitter. [...]

I left Mississippi a day early. I thought I could get ahead of the approaching monster storm, but instead I found myself driving through Alabama between tornadoes. I knew the road well; my [...]

I think blog tours are wonderful. How else can you promote your book, meet writers, reach readers worldwide, and get better Google rankings? For free? I do some guest posting during the year [...]

Having some problems with Blogger today (surprise-surprise!) and am sorry about the lateness of this post. I’m still doing a little visiting, y’all. :) Today I’m at the Stiletto Gang, talking a little [...]

I’ve read a couple of excellent posts recently on whether agents are about to become extinct…and possible options for them, career-wise. They make for very interesting reading. One is by Anne R. Allen [...]

Right before school wrapped up for the summer, I volunteered in my daughter’s 4th grade classroom. The children had all written stories and were sharing them with each other. The writing that children [...]

Below are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter in the past week. Hope you’ll enter this month’s WKB giveaway for a chance to win the “Butt-in-Chair” writer productivity eBook by Jennifer Blanchard. [...]

Life has been pretty busy lately, so keeping focused on deadlines (I’ve got a July 1 deadline rapidly approaching) has become a priority for me. I’m back on Penguin’s blog today with 6 [...]

Writer Camille LaGuire is running an interesting interview series on secondary characters for her blog, The Daring Novelist. I love the idea, because supporting characters can really make a book, but they don’t [...]

When I first started out in earnest as a writer, there was no real organized community of writers online. Fast forward over ten years later, and the online writing community has exploded with [...]

Today I’m on Penguin’s blog, talking a little bit about an easy way you can get acquainted with your characters—by spending a whole day with them while doing your regular routine. (Just be [...]

It’s easy to lose focus in the middle of a book. Usually that’s when I start running out of steam—and realizing I still have a long way to go to wrap up my [...]

Today I’m on sci-fi writer Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog, talking about super powers we writers should have (in the perfect world.) Hope you’ll come by and join me! [...]

Below are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter in the past week. Hope you’ll enter this month’s WKB giveaway for a chance to win the “Butt-in-Chair” writer productivity eBook by Jennifer Blanchard. [...]

Hope y’all will excuse this technical post…I’m thinking it might help some of you out there. The program that editors like working with is Word. They like editing back and forth with the [...]

This is the first week of summer vacation for my children…and I’m writing on the go more than ever as we go from swimming pools to skating rinks to bowling alleys!  Hope you’ll [...]

Today I’m visiting Spunk on a Stick, talking a little about book promo.  I’ve tried both traditional marketing and a more modern approach (with varying degrees of success.)  Hope you’ll come by and [...]

Today I’m over at P.M. Terrell’s blog, with my thoughts on juggling storylines, publishers, characters, and more.  Hope you’ll come by and join me! And…I’m announcing the winner of my Finger Lickin’ Dead [...]

Hi everybody! Today, on the Finger Lickin’ Dead blog tour, I’m posting at my friend Hart Johnson’s Confessions of a Watery Tart with my thoughts on sequels—including backstory (if you need to), reintroducing [...]

Was there a character or author who inspired you to write? Although I knew I wanted to be a writer while I was still reading Nancy Drews, there was one character and author [...]

Starting a blog can feel overwhelming. The internet is brimming with writing blogs—how can you find readers when everyone has a blog? Or, if you already have a blog, you might wonder how [...]

Below are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter in the past week. I’m running the list a day early because tomorrow I’m visiting Anne Allen’s blog. :) Enter this month’s WKB giveaway [...]

Being a writer isn’t easy. Publishing is a business that demands a thick skin—but writers are frequently artistic, thoughtful, and sensitive. How do we stay encouraged during the tough querying process? Hope you’ll [...]

I’d like to welcome Jeannie Campbell, the character therapist, to Mystery Writing is Murder today. Jeannie’s take on character motivation and the psychology of characters on her blog, The Character Therapist, is a [...]

Please join me at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist for my guest post with Margot Kinberg: 8 Ways to Keep Your Series From Going Stale. I’ve got a guest post this morning at [...]

It’s here! Finger Lickin’ Dead releases today in a bookstore near you. Hope you’ll consider it if you enjoy mysteries, or know someone who does. Download it on Kindle: http://amzn.to/kh7MAp Mass market paperback: [...]

I got an interesting question from a writing friend last week. She’d published a novel five years ago and wondered if that was too long ago to consider writing a sequel for the [...]