My children are both in Scouts. It’s been a great experience for them—they get to try new things and build self-confidence and self-reliance. The only thing I dislike about it? The selling. I’m [...]

My husband is a computer whiz. He does something so complicated at work that I don’t even understand it enough to explain it. I’m pretty good on computers. I’m much better than many [...]

I’m sure that everyone reading this blog has been affected in some way by the hobbled global economy. Whether it’s a friend or family member who’s lost a job, benefit cutbacks due to [...]

Last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I took a trip to the North Carolina mountains with my father. My sister and her husband were in Blowing Rock part of the time, too. Taking trips [...]

I’d like to welcome L. Diane Wolfe to the blog today. As a professional speaker, Diane travels extensively for media interviews and speaking engagements, maintains a dozen websites & blogs, manages an online [...]

I thought I’d do a short post on chapter breaks today—because I’m currently going through my manuscript and sticking them in, so they’re on my brain! As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, [...]

I love doing small things to recognize holidays—even St. Patrick’s Day. But I went too far when my daughter was in kindergarten. Remembering the tradition that involved the leprechaun playing harmless pranks on [...]

My husband and I had a rare night with no kids last weekend…our son was camping and our daughter was spending the night with a friend. We didn’t exactly know what to do [...]

For some reason, it took me a long time to figure out what worked for me and what didn’t with my writing. I kept trying to use techniques that other writers I knew [...]

“A midlist author is one whose books are well received but have failed to make a commercial breakthrough; whose work sells solidly but unspectacularly, who’s well known within the writing community but the [...]

This is a meme that’s made the rounds but I thought it made a good point about character perspective—and maybe getting another character’s second opinion on our protagonist’s point of view. In an [...]

Thanks Elizabeth, for hosting me on your (terrific) blog. I’ll try not to alienate any of your regular readers. Every writer has his or her own unique style/method/routine. There’s not a right way [...]

Surprises are one of the fun things about having kids. You just never know what they’re going to do next. And you sure as heck don’t know what they’re going to grow up [...]

With the different deadlines I face, writing every day is a necessity. But even before I had deadlines, I wrote every day—just a smidgeon. If I didn’t, then it was even harder the [...]

Hi everybody! I somehow double-booked myself today with guest posts. :) I’m both at Deb’s Powered by Books blog where I’m posting on the pros and cons of our characters coming to life, [...]

So y’all know my philosophy toward writing a first draft—get the thing thrown on paper. Don’t stop to edit. Don’t stop to research. Don’t stop to think up last names for these characters, [...]

I’ve gotten to the crazy point in my association with Twitter that I think everybody is on Twitter. It’s amazing how quickly the application messes with your mind. I thought I’d post some [...]

Do you know how you have so much going on and there are small things that you mean to check on, but they slip through the cracks? Then you remember them again…then you [...]

Today, I’m welcoming Hart Johnson to the blog. Hart is currently working on the third book of her Conspiracy trilogy and blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart on writing, digressions, and her [...]

Blogging is one of my favorite activities. Whether I’m reading blogs or writing them, or tweeting about them, I feel like I’m learning an incredible amount from the process. I blogged daily from [...]

I’ve noticed that many people I know view life through a lens. Some of them use a political lens—they look at everything in relation to politics. Many use religious lenses. There are some [...]

My now eight year old daughter was in preschool for a couple of days a week to give me a break—and some time to do some writing. This always seemed to work out [...]

Sunday morning I woke up with a stiff neck. Since Sunday was really busy for me, I just ignored it. I continued ignoring it the entire day…until I sat down to write this [...]

I took a quick trip to South Carolina Friday and Saturday to see my folks and talk to Mama’s book club. On the way back home Saturday morning, I suddenly realized I needed [...]

Okay, y’all know I don’t usually post a video. But this one, if you’re a writer, will put a smile on your face if you have the time (1:58 length) : The video [...]

Today I’d like to welcome Bob Sanchez to the blog. Bob, a retired technical writer, has published two novels, When Pigs Fly and Getting Lucky. His blog is http://bobsanchez1.blogspot.com and is the webmaster [...]

My third grade daughter brought a children’s chapter book home from her school library a week ago. The book was about a fifth grader who decides that grades and standardized tests aren’t accurate [...]

My husband’s sister and her husband live in Africa where they work as translators. My sister-in-law speaks French fluently and perfectly accented. Her husband speaks 5 or 6 languages, including Swahili. For years [...]

My upcoming Delicious and Suspicious will be released July 6, 2010, under my pen name Riley Adams. Just in time for the backyard grilling season! Here’s the back cover copy: Welcome to Aunt [...]

I get a lot of emails for different organizations that I either volunteer for or belong to. Sometimes I want to get out my highlighter and mark the information I need. Frequently I’ll [...]