February 19, 2020
My daughter is visiting this week so my writing will be on hold, but I wanted to thank all of the people who sent suggestions to help me name P.J.’s and Wade’s baby. I received more than 35 possibilities, 32 of those were from one person. Thank you Donna Swanson Johnson, you gave me a […]
January 13, 2016
If all goes well, and if you read this blog on January 13, 2016, my husband and I are now in Panama City, Panama. While here, we’ll be doing a couple days of sightseeing. Friday we’ll catch a plane and fly to Bocas del Toro. From there we’ll take a boat ride to one of […]
December 16, 2015
Last week I received my Authors Guild Fall 2015 Bulletin. In it one article echoed the feelings I’ve had this year. Roxana Robinson, AG President, wrote “Should Writers Be Performers?” Her point, which I feel is true, is that over the years publishing houses, large and small, in order to help their bottom line, have […]
May 6, 2015
The A-to-Z Blogging Challenge is over. My thanks to those of you who joined me (if only once or twice) in my journey from A to Z. I’m feeling a bit “blogged out” and have asked my long time friend and fellow writer, Ardyce Czuchna-Curl, if she would take over my blog today and impart […]
March 25, 2015
I’m excitedly awaiting the arrival of my author copies of A Killer Past. They are in the mail and should arrive the first of next week. (Maybe even Friday or Saturday of this week.) This will be the first time I’ve seen the story in book form. These hardcover copies are from the ones that […]
November 19, 2014
This week I’d like to shine the spotlight on Pamela S. Thibodeux. Pam is the co-founder and lifetime member of the Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She’s multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction. Her books are inspirational, but reviewers have called her work “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel […]
September 3, 2014
Three more hours and I’ll be boarding a plane for North Carolina. I’ll tell all (or what I can remember) next week.
August 6, 2014
I’ll admit it. I make lists. I’m more of a plotter than a pantser. I plan my day. I set goals. The problem is—Life gets in the way. Today my list included (1) send .jpegs of ebook covers to my virtual assistant, (2) write a blog about talking heads, (3) work on current work-in-progress, (4) […]
June 4, 2014
Two weeks ago I spoke to a group of women about my career as a writer. In general I answered their questions about both my books and the industry itself. One woman seated near me asked most of the “How do you…?” questions, and at the end of the meeting, she confessed that she’s been […]
June 19, 2013
It’s my birthday, and I’m taking the day off. No blog this week. (The pool is calling.)
December 12, 2012
Yesterday I met with the Second Tuesday group, and I asked one of the members what I should blog about today. (I’m always asking her, and she always comes up with great ideas.) Since the group had just talked about goals for 2013, she suggested that topic, but as I was driving home from the […]
November 7, 2012
Today I spent three hours at a friend’s house learning how to use Photoshop. Well, let’s be honest. He showed me how to use the program, but I’m still at the lowest level of the learning curve. Dave has had a book on photography published and has taught at the university level, whereas I took […]
October 31, 2012
Considering all of the changes that have occurred along our eastern seaboard, change seemed an appropriate topic today. Change is a problem writers of contemporary fiction must always consider. Of course you want your characters to change during the course of a story, and you want a change in the situation—villains caught, lovers united, and […]
October 24, 2012
Thursday night my presentation for the class I’m “teaching” on Publication will include promotion ideas. I’m listing the usual: a website, business cards, joining social groups, press releases, etc., but as I looked over the list, I started wondering how many are worth the time and effort. The website, yes. I believe every writer needs […]
October 17, 2012
This month I’m teaching a continuing education class for writers who want their work published. I say teach, but I’m really more of a guide. I see my job as two-fold: one part is to warn these writers of the ways they can be taken by unscrupulous agents and publishers; the other is to make […]
September 19, 2012
Today I’m heading to Greensboro, North Carolina for the Writers’ Police Academy (http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/) which starts Thursday afternoon. If you go to the web site and click on the schedule, you’ll see all the fantastic activities that I’m going to have to choose between. I am scheduled to participate in the simulated driving, but, alas, I […]
September 12, 2012
Which is best, to self-publish your book or go with a traditional publisher? My answer is always: “Depends.” (And no, I don’t mean those undergarments for the elderly.) IMO it depends on the type of book and the writer. Over the years I’ve run into many men and women who have written a memoir. The […]
September 5, 2012
Today I was in Walmart looking at pregnancy tests. Now anyone who knows me understands how strange that is. I have two grown children and enough white in my hair to make me bald if I plucked all those hairs. I think the young gal who came up next to me (while I was reading […]
August 29, 2012
Lately I’ve been reading several comments about an article that appeared in the New York Times regarding paid-for reviews. (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-book-reviews-money-buy-131408538.html?page=1) If you’ve already read the article and formed an opinion, you can skip reading my blog. If you’re someone who doesn’t like to click on URLs, I’ll try to quickly summarize the article. Basically a […]
August 22, 2012
I believe in setting goals, and I believe in meeting those goals, if at all possible. I try to set goals that I’m sure I can achieve. Oh, there’s always that “dream” goal of making the New York Times list, but I really have my doubts that will ever occur. No, my “real” goals aren’t […]