Wealth Whispers is Book III in my shapeshifter series. It will be out in December. In the meantime I want to share with you some of the fun I had putting the story together. I begin with my Yakuza research. First, what’s yakuza? They are Japanese gangsters. The word refers... read more
Today I’m delighted to share with you a guest post “Spices and Stern Lords” by Rose Vane. She’s here to tell us about her new release, A Stern Lord for My Lady, published by Blushing Books. She has written it under the pen name R. R. Vane. The story is... read more
“The only thing more fun than creating a character is killing one off.” I’ve said this more than once. But since I identify as a romance writer – rather than, say, a crime novelist – I’m more devoted to keeping characters alive and together. However, this week it occurred to... read more
I’m currently doing the research for the third book in my shapeshifter trilogy, Wealth Whispers. This involves reading up on bears in order to envision my hero who is a werebear. It also involves thinking more broadly about my were world. I am enjoying the challenge of imagining characters fully... read more
I don’t find books. Books find me. The one that found me yesterday is On Writing. A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. I enjoyed reading about the events that shaped his writing life. I also admired his brutal honesty about his drug and alcohol addition. And cheered his... read more
The world is awash in trends. We even have symbols to announce them. All industries have trends, including publishing. If you want to make a living as a writer, you need to know the marketplace. But if you’re writing your stories only toward trends, your backlist may suffer. Title image:... read more
For a good year and a half I’ve had the editorial review of one of my manuscripts sitting on my desk. The editorial letter, which is pictured in the title image, is 9 pages long. (Hint: the manuscript has lots of problems.) The Developmental Edit of the manuscript itself is... read more
We all know what happened at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday this week. Over the past two days commentators have remarked repeatedly that the last time invaders stormed the Capitol was during the War of 1812. I was aware of this fact because of all the research I did for... read more
We all know what to deck the hall with. That’s right, boughs of holly. Sure, we all know it because the song has an upbeat melody and lots of fun fa-la-las. But it’s also memorable because it sets the Yuletide scene so deftly. Along with all the fresh and fragrant... read more
We’re all at home these days. And, yet, very likely feeling uprooted. From our jobs. From our friends and family. With normal life not quite in sight. Everyone is suffering in their own way. In my case, my writing chops withered. So, lately I’ve been digging into some pretty dry... read more
