After 38 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 light [...]

I’m not a horror writer ordinarily, but I’m going to type in a sentence now that will strike terror in the hearts of many of my female readers: I went jeans shopping yesterday. [...]

My daughter was worn out last weekend from being out late the night before. She was about to have another late evening, due to a friend’s party. Since she’s eight years old, I [...]

I’ve recently been to a couple of parties where things got lively with alcohol. This was unusual for me. First of all, I’m rarely invited to grown-up parties. My good friends know I [...]

In the middle of the chaos that passed for my life last week, I screwed something up royally. I have the absolute worst memory of anyone I know. I can blame it both [...]

I’m a huge fan of art in all its forms, although I try to keep my little obsession under control on the blog. Okay, I do like to post these great paintings online. [...]

It was one of my wild mornings last week. Sick child at home and I needed some groceries. It was right after 9:00 in the morning when I arrived at the store, hair [...]

I had an unusual week for me in that I was in my Doctor Mom role the entire week. Ordinarily, I do a bang-up job being Doctor Mom—for three days. I’m the Best [...]

First of all, a big thanks to all of my wonderful guest bloggers this past week! It was fun for me to have some fresh insights and ideas to read about. I did [...]

A few years ago, I decided that the time had come. I would make bread. My house would be filled with that wonderful aroma and I could finally look a picture of Martha [...]

Many thanks to my guest blogger today, Martha Nichols. Martha is a freelance magazine writer and editor who runs WOMEN = BOOKS, the blog for the Women’s Review of Books based at Wellesley [...]

Thanks to Michele Emrath for guest blogging for me today! Michele is a writer, freelance news producer, wife, and mother and hails from my home state of North Carolina. Her blog is http://southerncitymysteries.blogspot.com/. [...]

Thanks to guest blogger Margot Kinberg for posting for me today! Margot is the author of Publish or Perish and an associate professor at National University in Carlsbad, CA. It never seems to [...]

Thanks to author Glen Allison for his guest post today. Glen writes the Forte suspense novels, featuring New Orleans child rescue specialist Al Forte. A teenaged girl is found wandering the hard streets [...]

Thanks so much to Marvin Wilson for guest blogging for me today! Marvin is “An old Hippie rock and roller, a non-religious, dogma free, Maverick spiritualist Christian. I am an author, with the [...]

On Friday evening, a friend of mine asked me some questions about mystery writing while I was at the Brownie Scout sleepover. Naturally, since this is my favorite thing to talk about, I [...]

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 [...]