First, I wanted to tell Deb that yes–I do think that other forces are at work sometimes! I have already ordered MORBID CURIOSITY because I am totally hooked by the premise. I’ve been doing some research on similar subjects. Kids today sometimes don’t realize what they’re getting into. The occult is dangerous, perhaps even more dangerous than online predators which right now are a huge threat to young people, emotionally or physically. You can’t “undo” the damage when a kid gets a sicko emailing them porn, or when a kid starts playing around with black magic. The experience will definitely… Read More

Last weekend I spoke to the local Sisters In Crime chapter and sat between two unpublished writers. The first has been revising endlessly the same book. Over and over and over. Especially the first few chapters. The second has written seventeen complete manuscript and has yet to send one out to an agent or editor. Seventeen! This week I’m going to talk about killing your manuscript, so it’s addressed more to the first writer. Next week I’ll talk about fear of failure and fear of success. Right now, I’m revising KILLING FEAR, my February 08 release. This is Will Hooper’s… Read More

I’m late, again . . . yesterday I was sick (ugh) and so was one of the kids. Today I had an a.m. conversation with my editor about revisions to KILLING FEAR which, thankfully, are not extensive and I’m eager to get started because the changes will make the book better, tighter, and more thrilling. So today I’m getting over being sick (you know, the day where you’re not sick but don’t feel 100%) but I’m now thankful I got sick this week and not next week, when all the kids will be in summer camp and I can start… Read More

KILLING FEAR is done and my editor is reading it. Yeah! (Whew) I write stand-alone, connected books. You might say that’s an oxymoron, but it’s the way I picture my stories. Each one is a complete story with a separate hero, heroine and villain. But at the same time, I’ve created my own world. I can use characters over and over again, particularly secondary characters. I never planned on writing connected books. I wrote THE PREY as a stand alone. But when Ballantine wanted to published a connected, back-to-back trilogy, I tweaked my heroine’s backstory (gave her two Quantico roommates)… Read More

You can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater. You can’t talk about bombs in the middle of an airport. Some speech is prohibited because the end result can be fatal. I am a staunch supporter of the First Amendment. I abide by Voltaire’s statement, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” In my former life as a legislative consultant, this came in handy. I was a good listener. I didn’t have to be convinced that someone was right or I was right or they were wrong (I,… Read More

After reading Karin’s sexy and fabulous book SKIN, I had a bit of an ephiphany. Then this morning, when reading one of my email lists and the talk prompt was about sexual tension (and I read all the advice given), I realized that there are some misconceptions about sexual tension, but more than that, there are misconceptions about reader expectations. Karin does sexual tension really, really well. It pops off the page. The h/h don’t have to go to bed together for the book to be sexy (though they do eventually get to relieve their sexual tension!) The sexiness is… Read More

I have several workshops I’ve developed, but hands down my favorite is NO PLOTTERS ALLOWED. Okay, I love the title. It says it all, doesn’t it? The workshop is for everyone. It’s subtitled: Solutions to writer’s block for those who can’t, won’t or don’t plot. But that doesn’t mean that plotters can’t benefit from some of the ideas. Last week I talked about the War of Art and how I’m incorporating some of Pressfield’s ideas into my workshop. This week I thought, based on Toni’s comment on Nat’s Tuesday blog, I’d talk about PLOTTING. Everyone plots. It’s just, do you… Read More

This afternoon I’m speaking to high school Journalism and English classes about being an author, writing in general, and how publishing a book works. I’m a little nervous simply because these are teenagers and they bite . . . Okay, seriously, I love talking (surprise) and I particularly like talking about books with kids. My two oldest daughters said I was a “geek” when I was a kid (I had to explain to them that in the 70s and early 80s, “geek” wasn’t really around, I would have been a “nerd,” but I digress . . . ) They think… Read More

THE WAR OF ART is a little inspirational book by Steven Pressfield. As people who know me know, whenever I read something, it’s all I think about for a time, so since I read this book yesterday (it’s short!) I’ve been thinking about it. And I realized that even though it’s short, it’s hefty and worth reading again. I bought it because I’m giving a workshop at RWA National in Dallas called NO PLOTTERS ALLOWED. I gave the workshop in Reno in 2005 with Patti Berg and we had so much fun! Unfortunately, Patti won’t be in Dallas 🙁 so… Read More

We’ve talked about talent, luck and perseverance here before, but never quite like Lawrence Block does in his book TELLING LIES FOR FUN & PROFIT. If you have a copy, pull it out now and read Chapter Twelve called “It Takes More Than Talent.” I wish I could reprint the entire text here because it is so important for all writers to hear, both published and unpublished. And, because he says it so much better than I could. The first thing that resonated with me was Block’s comments that never once did someone come up to him to say, “I… Read More