Last month, Nora Roberts posted a blog entitled “Bite Me” where she took issue with two things and spoke her mind. I agree with every word she said. I posted the link on my Facebook page because I felt it was a valuable lesson in social media etiquette. The gist of the blog was about two things: 1) Readers who insult other readers 2) Who writers write for You can (and should) read the blog (it’s short) to get the backstory, but in summary, Nora’s assistant posted about Nora’s new trilogy on Nora’s Facebook page where, presumably, Nora’s readers go for… Read More

Ten years ago today was my last day working for the California State Legislature. Make no mistake, I used to love my job in the Legislature. I went in as a 22 year old idealist thinking I could affect change. Thirteen years later, I was cynical and bitchy. There are a lot of reasons for that, which I can’t get into without getting political. But even though I worked full-time in the Capitol, I still wrote. Because I loved writing. I’d been doing it my entire life, it seemed, but without a purpose or goal. It took me years before… Read More

On one of the writer’s loops I participate in, a loop with both published and aspiring writers, a conversation started about the pros and cons of writing not only fast, but releasing four or more books a year. Now, the primary focus of this conversation began with the discussion of indie books – self-published, primarily digital books – where the “conventional wisdom” is that you must have at least five books in your body of work before you can see a serious uptick in sales. I put “conventional wisdom” in quotes because some indie authors have broken out big with… Read More

I know the mass market paperback world very well. I’ve had 22 mass market originals released … not including novellas in anthologies. I write the book, I revise the book, it goes through an editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader or two, is printed the month before the release date, warehoused, and distributed. I’ve been fortunate that my publishers have, for the most part, been able to prevent too many sales prior to the on-sale date, which helps with opening week sales numbers, which helps with list placement. I understand the process and, even with the rapid and rabid… Read More

I have so many things to blog about … but no time to blog! Daughter finished up Winter Ball softball, now in soccer … son finished up football, now in basketball … I lost my extra drivers to college … and then of course WRITING! BOUCHERCON 2014 I attended by first Bouchercon! I had a panel and an impromptu panel (lead by Charlaine Harris and Sara Paretsky!) and I got to meet Sue Grafton (briefly — but it was worth it!) Isn’t she beautiful and gracious? And totally, completely “real” and unpretentious. I could write much more about the conference,… Read More

I’m guest blogging today over at Denise Agnew’s place, talking about my love of short stories and how it all got started … please join me there! Fear in Small Bites

I’ve been quiet for the last few weeks because: 1) I took my #2 daughter to college. College prep, then driving and getting her settled, then coming home and catching up … took time. Lots of time. 2) Writing! Yes, writing is keeping me very busy. Last year I didn’t have as many tight deadlines; this year they seem to have crept up on me. But I finished the edits on MORTAL SIN, have been writing the next Lucy book (and having great fun!) and am expecting the page proofs for COMPULSION, the next Max book, this week. 3) Sports… Read More

Good news: I finished MORTAL SIN, book three of my Seven Deadly Sins series. My publisher cancelled this supernatural thriller series more than four years ago. I was heartbroken and never planned on writing another book, even though I loved the characters. There were a lot of reasons it was cancelled, but it boiled down to low sales: too many of my readers didn’t cross-over to a shift in genre. They read my because of my crime thrillers, and weren’t going to be satisfied by demons and ghosts in their stories. But I love this series. And there were enough… Read More

Call me a bad mom, but I am THRILLED that today my kids are back in school. Now … I can get back to a routine. I’m not organized, and I’m not a big planner, and everyone knows I don’t plot … but I need to have a regular routine to write the three (or more) books a year I write.

On Friday, I took the day off to play with my daughter, Mary. We all need a play date every now and then. This one centered around my editor’s invitation to go to a Giants game with her and her 11 year old son, who’s only days older than Mary, while they were on vacation out here in the Far West. In fact, considering that I write nearly every day, taking a full day off is rare, and getting a day with just one of the kids is even rarer. I think Mary had a lot of fun … she… Read More