The Last Day

It was an amazing week, full of brainstorming and writing and games and friendship. Two days ago, we were down to just Sarah, Bren and myself, seen here with a couple o’ pirates at a restaurant. Arggh. Yesterday, we were down to just Bren and myself–and we’re both nightowls. We stayed up till nearly 3:30…

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Working at the Beach

What a gorgeous setting! I’m down here at Holden Beach with the scribblers (Mary Kay Andrews, Margaret Maron, Sarah Shaber and Brenda Witchger) and we’re getting tons done. That’s mostly because Mary Kay is a very firm task master. Every morning we set our goals for the day and check in with our progress in…

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Multi-Tasking and Guinness Stew

It’s 2:30 am and I’m still at it. I finished After the Storm several days ago. Wow, did it feel good to type The End (on page 501). Now I await my editor’s thoughts, after which I’ll start revising. But I thought I’d share a bit of what else I’m working on. First, some of…

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The Photo Shoot

It’s such fun living with a professional photographer! It was time to take my new book jacket pictures to be used on the Target Book Club edition of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and also on my new website (coming soon!). We started with very demure poses that I hated–so not me–although John liked them. What can…

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Notes from My Desk

Yes, my books are soooooo sexy, as you can tell by these notes. Ha! They’re all about when so-and-so had to have sex to produce so-and-so. (trying not to give away too much here). The note in the lower left reads, in part, “or cld sy con’d march 15 due dec 15” and “have sex…

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Joy! A Great Publishers Weekly Review

Another piece of good news I have to share. Every author waits on pins and needles to see what Publishers Weekly, the trade magazine targeted at booksellers, libarians and others in the industry, has to say about his or her book. PW reviewers–who don’t have to sign their reviews–can be brutal, but they can also be kind.…

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The Sobfest

                    Here I am, caught in the middle of working on an emotional part of AFTER THE STORM. I had a bunch of movie soundtracks on the stereo and was moving notecards around for the last sections of the book (yes, I know, my deadline was…

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Exciting News!

On Friday, I received a call from my editor that really has me doing a happy dance! THE SECRET LIFE OF CEECEE WILKES has been selected as a June Book Club pick for Target’s Bookmarked program. Target says Bookmarked “is all about discovering and enjoying great books”. CEECEE will have a special print run just for…

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My D in Typing

  I was looking through my early notes on AFTER THE STORM to see if there were things I’d forgotten. I thought I’d share with you a small example of what my early notes look like. My favorite word in the mess below is “heargroken.” For those of you who don’t speak diane-type, that’s “heartbroken”…

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The Final Week

                        Yep. After a month solid at the computer, this is me. Except for the cigarette. Oh, and the fuscia. Plus, her desk is way too neat. But nothing fits me anymore. I can’t zip my jeans. I have several  king-sized M&M peanuts wrappers in…

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