Somehow, upcoming releases seem a lot more real when you have a cover to go with them! I love this one. :) Thanks to the art department at Penguin’s Berkley Prime Crime. They [...]

I can usually tell when I’m about to have a day when my writing is going to be awful. I’ll have this moment where I think the blank page looks so much better [...]

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 [...]

One thing that I really don’t think I  am, is curious. I like observing people.  I like imagining reasons that they do the things they do or say the things they say—but I’m [...]

I like to stay organized, but sometimes everything happens at once…and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. It’s my day to post at Inkspot and I hope you’ll pop by as I try to [...]

I emailed in my Memphis Barbeque III manuscript to my editor on Tuesday afternoon. :) I had a great time writing the book—particularly the end when I got to tie together some subplots [...]

Hi y’all. Today is my day on the Southern writers blog, A Good Blog is Hard to Find. Hope you’ll pop over for my post on all the ways that reading our favorite [...]

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 [...]