As I make blog rounds and visit Tweeted links, sometimes I can see a pattern of interest in a subject over the course of the week. This week I kept running into tips [...]

I thought I’d do a follow-up post on my radio/podcast experience yesterday at Red River Writers. I’m giving y’all the link but be advised I sound really, really quiet there right now! I [...]

  Barbara Ehrentreu who has a great blog for writers, Barbara’s Meanderings, very thoughtfully invited me to be interviewed by her on the Red River Writers podcast.  The interview will run live at [...]

I was always a writer, like many writers are. I was the elementary school class reporter, the middle school reporter, the high school reporter and worked on the literary magazine. That was my [...]

I’m one of those people who usually likes to go with the flow. I think that’s because I’m in a writing fog half the day. But once I come down off my happy [...]

I had a problem with one of my kitchen cabinets for over a week. The problem was that when I opened the door to the cabinet, Pyrex dishes and Tupperware flung themselves at [...]

While I was at the beach this weekend for a house party with friends, I got a great idea for a book. I could see the whole book—murderer, victims, clues, red herrings, and [...]

Today, I should be on my way back home from a fun, hopefully relaxing, weekend at the beach (Isle of Palms, near Charleston). My wonderful parents took the children for my husband and [...]

On Thursday, I had a completely different plan for my day. Since my deadline was Friday, I was going to leisurely take the day to read the complete manuscript again, with my revisions. [...]

It’s been a busy week, jam-packed with a revision deadline, children’s extra-curriculars, errands, small household emergencies of various types and descriptions, houseguests, and preparation for an upcoming short vacation. I grabbed my grins [...]

Most of the time when I’m out running errands, I’m in a happy little Neverland, thinking about other things. Yesterday I was actually mulling over settings while I was out and about. I [...]

For the first time ever, my son asked to go shopping with me on Sunday. This was a real jaw-dropper, since our usual modus operandi has involved my going to the store, buying [...]

Have you ever had a day when you felt like Alice? I had an Alice moment yesterday when everything turned into nonsense. Of course, I was writing at the time that my cell [...]

I know I’ve been bopping around from blog to blog lately. And…guess what? I’m doing it again today. :) I’m on A Good Blog is Hard to Find today with a post on [...]

Once again I’m the guest blogger at Poe’s Deadly Daughters, a blog for mystery lovers. I’m covering my “Writing Obsessions.” Is writing taking over your life? If you’re a mystery writer, do you [...]

I’m the guest blogger at Poe’s Deadly Daughters, a blog for mystery lovers. I’m covering my “Writing Obsessions.” Is writing taking over your life? If you’re a mystery writer, do you casually bring [...]

For all its emphasis on the religious, the South is a very superstitious place. When I was pregnant with my son (living in Alabama at the time) I had people dangling strings over [...]

I shop like a woman on a mission. I walk in, usually clutching the postcard or coupon that has been mailed to me. Must get navy slacks! I find the navy slacks. I [...]

I know y’all think I spend more time at the grocery store than any other place…and you’d be right. I just can’t seem to organize my food menus enough to keep from going [...]

I’m one of those people who has a really tough time writing settings if I’m not looking at the setting I’m writing. This is why I acted like an insane tourist in Memphis [...]

Today I’m over at the Ink Spot for my recurring gig with fellow Midnight Ink authors. My topic du jour is “Public Speaking.” Hope you’ll pop over and say hi. [...]

Every six Sundays, I host a guest at the Berkley Prime Crime cooking blog, Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. Today, I’m pleased to announce that my mystery writing friend Patricia Stoltey has prepared a delicious [...]

Today I’m part of a writers’ workshop, similar to this Waldenbooks event from last weekend (I’m at the far left. I’m with my Carolina Conspiracy promotional group…Jim and Joyce Lavene and Terry Hoover [...]

You’re probably the go-to writer for everyone you know. Aren’t you? If someone needs a resume cover letter, a complaint letter, a business letter, an admissions letter, they come to you. But here’s [...]

Tonight I’m talking to my daughter’s Brownie troop about writing. I usually talk to children and teens/preteens a quarter as much as I talk to adults. This does make sense—I don’t write books [...]

I’ve been an off and on follower of Fly Lady for years. I keep many of her general housekeeping principles each day (quick clean-up in the morning, devoting a particular day for different [...]

Like most people, I have random and vague memories from being very small. I remember being on an airplane at age two and being offered a Coke. I was amazed that my mother [...]

It was a big weekend for me, promotion-wise. Saturday I spoke at a writers’ workshop at the Gaston County Library in Gastonia, NC. There were around 75 people there, which is a good-sized [...]

Social Media for Writers Today I’m over at Jean Henry Mead’s blog, Writing Advice and Good Books, discussing social networking for writers. I wasn’t an easy convert to the applications (Facebook and Twitter), [...]

It’s that time again! Yes, revision season has hit my little writing world yet again. Wait, you say, you just finished doing revisions. Yes, but those were my revisions. Now I’m working on [...]