Book tours can get expensive and overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. And a tour doesn’t mean you have to cover a broad area of the country, either. You can limit it [...]

Sometimes it’s easy to get dragged into your day…and the day isn’t a very inspiring one. That was my day on Wednesday. I had what felt like an army of workmen at my [...]

Right now, even as I type, we’re having our upstairs and downstairs a/c systems replaced, along with our furnace. In my blissful ignorance, I thought this wasn’t that complex of a job. Actually, [...]

I’d reached one of those points in my current manuscript where I really wasn’t excited about moving forward with the plot. I wasn’t even really sure how I was going to move the [...]

I’ve gotten a few comments in the last couple of months, asking about Google Reader and how we can make it work for us. I thought I’d do a real quick overview of [...]

I know that it seems like I spend way too much time at the swimming pool. It’s just been such an incredibly hot summer (even for the Deep South), that whenever my children [...]

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 [...]

Happy Saturday, everyone! This morning I’m over at mystery reader Babs Hightower’s blog, writing a little about pros and cons to writing small town settings…that are based on real towns.   Hope you’ll come [...]

Yes, I’m on the road again!  :)  But looking at my schedule, after tomorrow I think I’m going to be back at my home base for a while. Today I’m at fellow Midnight [...]

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was in Atlanta, Georgia, with my daughter and friends at the American Girl doll store. If you’re not familiar with the American Girl line…you must not be an [...]

It’s a whole new world for writers—the world of marketing. It’s usually not an area that comes naturally to us, either…we’re creative people, not salesmen. Crime writer Martin Edwards asked if I could [...]

How can we convey a sense of place to our readers—help them feel like they’re actually visiting the region we’re writing about–without overdoing it? Hope you’ll join me on Margot Kinberg’s blog, Confessions [...]

People sometimes think of writers as being sensitive types. I have to snort when I hear that. Writers can’t be sensitive types. Oh, I think that we’re naturally pretty emotional people. But to [...]

Hi everyone! Hope you’ll pop by and join me today at Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room where I talk a little about social media—how different forms of social media [...]

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 [...]

I’m choosing “headshot” and sticking with it, since the phrase is turning into a word, apparently. Don’t you love it when language morphs? :) I’d decided that I’d get an updated headshot every [...]

Hi everybody! Today I’m on action and suspense writer Stephen Tremp’s Breakthrough Blogs, talking a little about my own path to publication. If you’re frustrated with your progress finding an agent or editor [...]

Hi everybody! Today I’m at fellow Midnight Ink author Alan Orloff’s A Million Blogging Monkeys blog with some thoughts about writing to the market. Should we do it? Does it compromise our artistic [...]

First up, I’m at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, celebrating our 1-year anniversary with a cookout. Each day we’re cooking a different course—and I’m in charge of the ribs (go figure!) :) If your tastes [...]

Thanks to Terry Odell for guest posting for me today! Terry’s books straddle the mystery and romance genres and you can find out more about them here. Thanks to Elizabeth for inviting me [...]

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 [...]

Tomorrow I’m running my Twitterific post, as usual, but I thought I’d run a post that has my top retweets listed. For non—Twitterers, followers retweet tweets that they find interesting to their followers, [...]

I went, reluctantly, to Walmart this morning. It’s possibly my most un-favorite place on Earth, but there are some things I’ve just got to get there. One of those things is sunflower seeds [...]

For most of us, promo is the least favorite part of the writing process, even ranking under revision and agent pitches. For me, there’s really nothing that comes naturally about selling—so I’ve had [...]

The inspiration of this post comes from the fact that I got up this morning and looked at my calendar, thinking, “Okay. It’s Wednesday.  Where am I blog touring today?” And today was [...]

Hope y’all will pop over and visit me at Terry’s Place where I’m posting on working around an uncooperative muse. I was also interviewed for a Memphis food blog, Hungry Memphis, about Delicious [...]

Lately, I’ve gotten a few emails asking me the best way to launch a blog. I think there must be a lot of different ways to do it and I’m not sure mine [...]

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 [...]

I’d admit right away that I don’t know how to dress. I’ve never cared about clothes.  I wear a sort of uniform every day during the summer: a v-neck cotton tee-shirt (I have [...]

Today I’m going to be genre-specific and talk a little about writing mysteries. Mysteries aren’t only my favorite genre to read, they’re my favorite to write, too. Hope you’ll join me on Roni [...]