One more week and COLD SNAP will be done. It’ll need revisions and copyedits, but the story will all be there — if all goes well. Last night, I wrote a new prologue. I had one already drafted, but it nagged me … I just didn’t like it. It didn’t show my heroine, Elle Santana, the way I wanted. She has a very strong motivation for doing what she’s doing, and the original prologue didn’t show that. The new one does — a teenager she’s been helping dies in her arms of a drug overdose after being thrown from a… Read More

It’s been that kind of month. My youngest is in baseball (his first year) and my youngest daughter is in softball (her first year) but before we signed her up for softball, we signed up for a soccer league — just six Saturdays, no practices, 4 on 4. Great practice for passing, dribbling, and scoring (in much smaller goals, no goalie) … but it started THIS weekend. The same weekend as a two-day softball tournament. Not to mention that my middle schooler is going on a week-long spiritual retreat with the entire middle school (which I had to buy stuff… Read More

My husband has a theory. If you put a picture of the cat on anything, you increase traffic. Want more people to “like” your page? Post a cat. If you want a million views on YouTube? Record your cat. The above cat is Nemo, enjoying last Tuesday morning’s wind and sun on our back porch. Technically, Nemo is my daughter’s cat, but he’s really mine, because even when she moves out of the house, he’s staying with me. I have a thing for orange and white cats. Nemo is very popular on my Facebook page. I post a picture of… Read More

I recently read KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child. This wasn’t the first book I’ve read by Lee Child, but it was his first book, published in 1997. It was one of those things: I started reading Lee in the middle of his Jack Reacher series and fell in love with this books. (I think the first book I read was TRIPWIRE, but don’t quote me on that!) I didn’t read them in order, but with Lee you don’t have to because his books aren’t told chronologically. I sometimes wonder if authors feel like I do–that over time, their books have gotten… Read More

… And no, I don’t mean anything to do with cleaning. It’s television finale time! Okay, not quite yet, but they’re getting close, and I’m getting excited. There are a couple of shows that will end before the May Sweeps, and those are the ones I’m talking about today. I really love the competition in the television world — cable TV has really pushed networks to do new and different things, resulting in some amazing productions. These shows — from FX, Fox, and AMC — are three that stand out for me. But those of you who know me, know I… Read More

Last week, I shared a link on Twitter to Jodie Renner’s terrific blog post about writing tense action scenes. I found the way she shared the information to be clear and helpful, particularly because she provided examples (much like MSW friend Margie Lawson does in her workshops!) Since I learn by example, I love this approach. I particularly liked Jodie’s article because I was in the middle of editing a fast-paced novella and reviewing her checklist helped me remember the important aspects of thrillers. I’ve written 20 books and sometimes, while I subconsciously know what to look for in edits,… Read More

The time change last weekend has screwed up not only my inner clock, but my kids. It’s never happened like this before. Usually, the time change is but an irritable bump in the weekend. But it’s already Thursday and my kids can’t get to sleep at night and they are monsters to wake up in the morning. Last week, all my kids got up on their own by seven (usually much earlier) and getting them ready for school was never a problem. Now? My husband and I have to wake them up multiple times, showers are rushed, lunches are small,… Read More

Every other Tuesday marks our new Murder HE Writes feature, starting on March 19th–we’re already booked with male thriller writers through May! I’m very excited about this new feature, because we all love our male counterparts. I could tell you who’s joining us … but I won’t 🙂 We’ll make it a surprise. So you get me (again) today, and I’m going to talk about books. Everyone here loves books, or you probably wouldn’t be reading our blog. Sure, many of us like television, and movies, and sewing, and cooking, and sports, and a host of other things, but the… Read More

Story is Character. That’s the famous quote from Robert McKee. Story is character. Character is story. Meaning, without character, you have no story. Your character drives the story, your character makes the reader invested in the story. Without a character the reader can relate to, at least on some level, or sympathize with, or care about, the reader will be dissatisfied. Yes, you can certainly write a fabulous bestseller without characters you care about (I can think of at least one thriller I read this year where I hated the characters and hated the ending, yet couldn’t put the book down),… Read More

This weekend, I was a speaker at WANACon, put on by the tireless and inspiring Kristen Lamb. WANACon is unlike any writers conference I’ve been to! I didn’t exactly know what I was getting into when Kristen first asked me to participate. I just said yes, sure, whatever you want! I thought initially it would be a digital classroom — like a big chat — where I’d post my lecture and then have chat-like discussions. Wow, was I wrong — and in a good way! The conference was live with speakers. The set up was audio (and video if the… Read More