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The Last Song
Today is our last full day on Tybee Island. All five of us have worked so hard and achieved or surpassed our goals each day. So far. I have some hefty goals for today and can’t wait to buckle down. I’m so grateful to Mary Kay Andrews for inviting us to her beautiful cottage in…
Read MoreAnd Then There were Five
Second full day on Tybee Island. 6 pages so far toward my daily goal of 10. Margaret snapped this pic of me happily typing away. One of my characters whom I pictured staid and reserved and very serious, turns out to be irreverent and a little kooky. I’m glad she didn’t wait any longer to let me…
Read MoreWe're at the Breeze Inn!
Yup, I’m with my writing buds for a week of brainstorming and writing. We’re at Mary Kay Andrews’ fabulous Breeze Inn on Tybee Island. So far it’s me, Sarah Shaber, Margaret Maron and Mary Kay. Alex Sokoloff will be joining us tomorrow or Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted on our progress. Mary Kay has done…
Read MoreMy Sloppy First Drafts
Plant. I’m nearly done with the first complete draft of my work-in-progress, currently titled The Midwife’s Confession, and if you were to check it for the most often used word (after “the” and “and” and character names), I bet it would be “plant.” Even though I’ve outlined ad nauseum, the characters and story change as…
Read MoreThe Reveal
Time for the reveal! We’ve had so much fun working with our friend Elizabeth as we remodeled our Topsail Island condo. The before and after pics don’t match up perfectly–this isn’t HGTV after all!–but you get the idea. To start with, we painted the unit a buttery yellow, replaced the sofa and loveseat, painted the…
Read MoreWriter's Block: the Tough Love Approach
Writers spend hours and hours talking about writer’s block and in my opinion, there’s no greater waste of time. Workshops at conferences are devoted to the topic, and writing magazines often run articles offering tips on coping with that paralytic state. For those of you who are readers instead of writers, writer’s block is a panic-inducing feeling that you can’t…
Read MoreArt, Sky and Snowboard Cross
I’m a sucker for the Olympics. So much youth, energy, skill and heart . . .and too often, heartbreak. Behind every athlete a story, and you know how much I love a good story. I should be working, but I’m watching. We leave Topsail tomorrow. We’ve accomplished so much in the condo. The best part…
Read MoreShelf Paper Sunday
Well, Sunday is usually one of the days I update my blog, but this evening I have no time. You can see what I’m doing here: cleaning out my newly refaced cabinets at our Topsail Island condo, as well as many other household-y tasks. We just have two days here because snow, a rarity on the North…
Read MoreThirty Years Ago. . .
About thirty years ago, I was published for the first time. Not a novel, but an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. I was working as a hospital social worker at the time, and after a particularly moving encounter with a family in the ER, I took a break and wrote this fictionalized account…
Read MoreWhere I'm At
As I get closer to the final form my novel will take, I like to use this Three-Act chart, based on my friend Alexandra Sokoloff’s book, Screenwriting Tips for Authors. The top picture was taken as I neared the end of writing my upcoming June book, The Lies We Told. Notice how neat and organized and peaceful…
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