Richard, who is my all-around good guy and occasional editor, keeps talking smack about writing a romance. He’s all, well, if I were writing this, I’d say… Or, my personal favorite, he’ll start his version of my stories with, Sven came in flush from his tennis lesson. Tonight, after hearing for the umpteenth time how he would…Continue reading Richard Writes Romance

Today’s post was supposed to be about something very different, but when I heard that Rosalind James hit her two-year anniversary as a self-publisher today, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to post about her instead. Rosalind is one of those authors who always has her hand out to help other people. Because of her and those like…Continue reading Indie Author Shout-Out: Rosalind James

A few years ago, I introduced Richard to the wonderful writings of Jennifer Crusie, beginning with Agnes and the Hitman, co-written with Bob Mayer. It’s one of my all-time favorite reads. If you haven’t read it yet, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Richard was rather disdainful of romances at the time. He scoffed…Continue reading Romance Isn’t Solely for Women

Earlier this week, my son and I went on a three-day road trip through North Carolina, in part to fulfill requirements for one of his merit badges (he’s a Boy Scout) and in part for me to do a little research. Our first stop was the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC. To…Continue reading Road Trip!

 I absolutely cannot keep secrets. (I know, it’s terrible, but there ya go.) That’s why y’all are usually the second group of people to know what I’m working on, besides Richard and my son. I’ve got so many things up in the air right now that I’m really doing a balancing act. In addition to…Continue reading First Lines of Upcoming Stories

Sometimes, characters push so hard to be written that it’s really hard to ignore their voices in your head. That’s why I rearranged my writing schedule and began working on Tempered, because the characters were ready to be put on paper. Now, about a week ago, I started fantasizing about how nice it would be to spend…Continue reading The Tipping Point for Writing a Story, or Levi’s Story

I’ve been contemplating the kinds of stories and characters I like to write for a couple of months now, part of my (probably eternal) quest to become a better writer. One of the reasons I pursue writing is because I have a difficult time finding stories I like to read. Since I have such a…Continue reading The Stories I Write

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that Second Chance Christmas, a holiday novella, is next on my list of writing projects. In fact, my writing schedule looks kinda like this: May/June 2014: A Wicked Love June 2014: Second Chance Christmas July/August 2014: Hawthorne’s story (not yet titled) September/October 2014: In All Things, Balance (Daughters of the People #4) I’m thinking of switching…Continue reading Characters I’m Ready to Write

Jennifer Crusie, a well-known romance author, recently posted on her blog about how over time people change, and for writers, that change can bring some unexpected career consequences. In her case, she’s been “branded” as an author who writes romantic comedies. Readers expect this from her, so when she decides to go off-brand and write something different,…Continue reading Why I Write Multiple Series