My son is in marching band, so I found myself at the homecoming game last week as snack mom. :) What’s more, since I was snack mom and had to stay for the [...]

I know your pain. Everyone’s telling you you’ve got to write that novel and stop putting it off. Everyone’s telling you that you’ve got to stop wasting your time watching Desperate Housewives already [...]

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 [...]

As someone who’s currently on a couple of group blogs (and who has been a regular contributor on as many as five), I found a recent post by author/social media guru Kristen Lamb [...]

You wrote your first book, and it’s on Kindle, Smashwords, Nook and wherever else ebooks are sold. You’re proud of it, your family members pretend that they’re proud of you, and your wife [...]

I usually don’t get stuck with book beginnings (endings are more of a problem for me), because I have a similar approach each time. This may not give me an award for originality, [...]

November 1st through 30th is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. If you’re not familiar with it, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel in a month. You can log your [...]

I’d love to have the luxury of thoughtfully mulling over each word and getting wrapped up in the art of my writing—I just don’t have the time. Between publisher deadlines, working for more [...]

I’ve worked with several different editors for the series I’ve written/am writing. Each editor has been very different. I’ve actually really appreciated the differences because I’m getting a different perspective each time I [...]

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 [...]

I was reading the paper yesterday morning and saw an article by Steven Brown at The Charlotte Observer. He usually reviews our local symphony and opera group, so I was a little surprised [...]

Many writers are looking for someone to make a read-through of their manuscript and offer feedback or constructive criticism. The problem is, usually, finding someone to do it. Family and friends are frequently [...]

I read an interesting post the other day and shared it on Twitter. The article was by Candy Gourlay on the Notes from the Slushpile blog. The post was titled “Does writing affect [...]

Just a quick mention that September 24—October 1 is the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. I’ve read most of the books on the frequently challenged list. Actually, I read most of them [...]

My 10 year old daughter met a tough challenge successfully yesterday and I told her she could choose a reward to celebrate. She chose a Happy Meal from McDonalds. :) I got off [...]

I noticed I’d gotten a really nice review of one of my books the other day. Several books ago, good reviews really had a strong impact on me. Actually, the word ‘elation’ wouldn’t [...]

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 [...]

Please join me in welcoming Glen Allison to Mystery Writing is Murder. A review of The Informationist by Taylor Stevens  Expectations are a funny thing. And by funny, I mean they are like [...]

I came across a fun post from Clarissa Draper yesterday. She mentioned that designing a cover for a WIP can put her in the mood to write it. I think designing a cover [...]

One interesting blog post that I’ve recently come across was on Cheryl’s Musings, writer Cheryl Reif’s blog. In the post, Cheryl explains how she decided to start writing. Actually, her story is a [...]

Just a quick post today on a discovery I made with my manuscript. One of the revisions I made to my Quilt or Innocence manuscript ended up making a big difference to the [...]

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 [...]