I do think this is a great time to be a writer. We’ve got options and possibilities and an exciting future. But the publishing industry (including the retail end of things, bookstores) are [...]

My daughter has just started taking horseback riding lessons. The lady who’s instructing her wants to loop me in on what’s going on. I appreciate this, but I have no idea what she’s [...]

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week. The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable. Sign up for the free [...]

Sometimes I go on bike rides with my children. We start out in the neighborhood, then head to a nearby greenway. The only bad thing about biking with my ten year old daughter [...]

My son recently brought home an English worksheet that had denotation and connotation on it. As the sheet pointed out, “a word’s connotation can give it a negative or a positive spin.” {Scope, [...]

Every once in a while I want to point out a couple of important resources for querying writers. These sites frequently don’t get the mentions that other sites do. These two resources help [...]

I’ve had a couple of questions lately from writers who are just starting to dip their toes into social media promoting. They asked me which social medium I recommended. I think they were [...]

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month here in the States. I remember my first library card…I felt like such a grown-up. And I knew it was opening up a whole world of [...]

Please join me in welcoming my friend Deb Sharp to Mystery Writing is Murder today. I’m a fan of Deb’s Mace Bauer mysteries and can’t wait to see what Mama is up to [...]

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week. The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable—try it for searches on plotting, [...]

I hope y’all will bear with me as I explore yet another productivity-related post this week (yes, I really am obsessed.) It’s on my mind a lot right now. :) A couple of [...]

One reason why I think traditionally-published writers are slow to make the leap to being dual-published (traditionally and self-published) is because the learning curve for self-publishing is so very high. Here are my [...]

I’m continuing on with the productivity theme this week. :) That’s because I’m revamping some of my mindset to get more writing done. I’ve always been pretty good about resisting perfectionism during first [...]

I read a post from Inkygirl, Debbie Ohi, which really resonated with me the other day. Debbie is an author and illustrator. She’s also very active online and is well-respected in the writing [...]

I have many hats—one a cloche with a fan of feathers for when I write mystery (don’t you think it makes me look mysterious?), a sunbonnet for western fiction, a fedora for nonfiction, [...]

I’m speaking this Sunday at a Sisters in Crime meeting in High Point, North Carolina from 2-4. I’m looking forward to the talk because I’m most comfortable with writers. Although I probably should [...]

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week. The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable—try it for searches on plotting, [...]

There’s a festival of music, rides, art, and food that Matthews, North Carolina, is regionally known for. It’s always on Labor Day weekend and it’s called Matthews Alive.  Every year there are over [...]

I always take emails that I get from readers very, very seriously. Actually, I listen to them just as much as I do to my editors. And I watch market trends, too, especially [...]

I just finished reading a book for my book club: Monster by Walter Dean Myers. The 16 year old protagonist, Steve, is on trial for murder. He’s portrayed as a terrified and nearly [...]

I’ve always heard that it’s important to learn something new every day. But lately, I feel like I’ve been learning fifty new things a day, trying to keep up with publishing and social [...]

I frequently hear about the quiet life of writing and wonder if I’m just the weird writer in the group. Writing, for me, isn’t really a quiet, still, activity. For one thing, I’m [...]

Blog Tours – A Low-Cost, Low-Stress and Actually Fun Way to Help Your Book Find Readers I had never heard of a blog tour until my novel Love in Mid Air came out [...]

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week. The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable—try it for searches on plotting, [...]

My friends are, generally, nice people, but they do laugh at one particular handicap I have. I can’t for the life of me describe anything to do with fashion. For a teenage girl [...]

I’ve noticed in the past that my mood influences my writing. It’s been a really busy last few days, as I mentioned yesterday. I’m trying to take things a little slower now and [...]

Life is usually pretty fast-paced here.  Recently, it’s been faster-paced than usual. Today is the first day of school for my children.  The last week has been a blur of preparations for school, [...]

I was at a local amusement park with my children last weekend and was put in an uncomfortable situation a couple of times in a row. We were in the water park when [...]

I usually have a good time naming characters, but I’ll admit that sometimes I have to go back and change names later. Or add them. My editor for the quilting mysteries called me [...]

We frequently hear, as writers, the advice that our protagonist needs to want something. As Kurt Vonnegut put it: “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” [...]