Hitting Milestones

One down and one to go in my parade of novellas. “Well Done, Harry” went to the editor Friday. To get it there I had to consolidate comments from my beta readers***, edit it, add an author’s note and my bio, and proof it word by word. For that last step, I’m now using the […]

Up To My Neck

I was up to my, er, neck in alligators last week with an electrician coming and going, calls aimed at hiring painters, multiple church meetings, my weekly volunteer gig, a Belles meeting regarding our planned collections, and follow up to that. In spite of my delicate dance through the swamp, I got a newsletter out […]

Dog Days

Life, as always, rolls along, sometimes aiding the writing, sometimes interfering. Dogsitting, for example. I always swore I would never call a small animal my “Granddog” no matter how adorable and affectionate he might be. Family is family; dogs are dogs. But lately I’m softening. My daughter’s dog visited for the weekend while his hoomans […]

Summer Nights

After two weeks of evening and nighttime storms, summer nights have been pleasant here in the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania for the past several days. We went to the Jersey Shore on the 4th, had a lovely dinner, and walked in the surf watching the little coquina shells burrow into the sand every time […]

Renewed and Energized

I returned from Sin City this weekend ready to write and confirmed in the general direction of my plans. The master class on Tension and Conflict was super helpful and so were sessions on Female Archtypes, Marketing, and Medical History among others. Hobnobbing with other writers is always motivating and motivational. What did I learn? […]

Off and Away

I’m jetting off to Vegas tomorrow. Lest you think I’ve take a sudden and uncharacteristic turn toward decadence, I should clarify that I’m going to attend the Historical Novel Society of North America conference.  I will be able to hobnob with authors, chat with agents, take a master class on Conflict that Hooks and one […]

War Wounds and Veteran Care

Alina K. Field brings facts about the use of prosthetics in the Regency Era as used in her novel Claims of the Heart June 18 th this year marks the 210 th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo where so many combatants died and others experienced dreadful injuries such as amputations. Surprisingly to me, not […]

Buzzing!

How did I get so busy? I’ve been going in circles the past two weeks, so much so that I didn’t even get to this blog post last Monday. First of all, writing writing writing. “Music in the Night”, a novella for the Dragonblade collection, Dukes All Night Long, is finished! I typed THE END […]

A Writer’s Brain

In order to produce a good story, your author needs to climb into the story, if she can. Focus and imagination are required. With luck, she’ll be as involved with the characters as you are when you read a good one and lose track of the world around her. Alas that is not always (sometimes […]