Sometimes it seems as though there are only 7 or 8 of us visiting my blog, since we’re the chatty ones. I just installed a statistics counter, though, which reported 71 visits to my blog in the last 24 hours! And those 71 people read more than 170 posts between them. So I welcome you quiet ones. Please say “hi”…

Okay, I’m going to be perfectly honest. The book I’m writing is awful. Thank goodness this is the seventeenth book I’ve written or I’d be worried. Having done this sixteen times before, I know that as I’m nearing the end of the first draft, I always feel this way. ALWAYS. As I’ve mentioned before, I…

I had such fun yesterday. I wrote in the morning, then went to a nearby Borders cafe to meet Emilie Rose and Sally. . . yikes! I didn’t get Sally’s last name, but will find out. Even though I don’t write romance per se, I’ve always belonged to Romance Writers of America because the pubbed…

Anguish! THE SEA TENDER is out of the running because my editor/publisher feels it’s too passive and doesn’t capture the emotional intensity of the story. The central theme of the story–in a teeny tiny inadequate nutshell–is the length a loving family (mother, sister and uncle) will go to to protect one of their own (fifteen-year-old Andy. Andy…

Well, now, this is funny! I have a treasure box–a large plastic tub in which I keep all those odds and ends that have meaning to me but that don’t belong anywhere else in my house. I have my original wedding ring in it, a picture I took of Felix Cavaliere (The Young Rascals) back when…

My May 19th workshop on characterization is now open for registration. You can learn more about it — including the most important piece of information — lunch choices! — here. I’m really looking forward to teaching this class!

It’s not only the big stuff that requires research when writing a novel. The big stuff in my current Work-in-Progress includes Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and whale behavior. But I thought I’d illustrate how much research truly goes into a book. As I’ve mentioned before, as I write, I keep a running list of things I…

I know we discussed this a while back, but as I think about ideas for the book I’ll write after my current work-in-progress, I’m toying with the concept again. How do you feel about connected books? By that I mean: a trilogy or continuation of the story with the same characters (as in the KEEPER…

Well, as I’ve mentioned before, you never know when a character is going to do something unexpected in your Work-in-Progress. I should have also mentioned that you never know when your editor is going to do something unexpected as well. I’ve been blessed with the BEST editors–and that can be a problem because they’re always thinking…

Yes, my favorite workshop is finally going to make its North Carolina debut! I’ve picked a date, May 19th, and now I’m committed. I’ll have more information as the date grows closer, but for now, you can read a bit more about it on the blog’s Events page.