By Debra Sennefelder One question authors always get is where we get ideas from. Another top ten question is how do they plot their books? Today I’m going to share a look behind the scenes of my process. The idea for SLEUTHING IN STILETTOS started from a few disjointed thoughts. I wanted the mystery to […]
How the Story Came Together Read More »
By Grace Topping As a child, I enjoyed the stories my mother told my sisters and me at bedtime about her childhood. Sometimes her stories were happy and sometimes sad, but we were fascinated by them. Little did I realize that one of her experiences would profoundly affect me and cause me to do things
The Importance of Showing Up Read More »
By Annette Dashofy I grew up at a time when Westerns were all the rage on TV. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Big Valley to name a few. My dad and I watched them all. One of my favorites was a series titled Alias Smith and Jones. In it, two of the most successful outlaws in the
My Love of Bad Guys Read More »
By Judy Penz Sheluk This post is scheduled for Halloween, which amuses me, because I’ve never been much of a Halloween person. Even as a kid, I dreaded the thought of dressing up and knocking on neighbor’s doors asking for candy, then coming home and watching while my dad inspected every piece for signs of
Halloween vs. Valentine’s Day Read More »
By Bethany Maines In this day of Marvel Universes and streaming limited– run shows, no, it’s not a surprise that it’s a sequel. It seems like everyone is embracing the sequel world-building ethos. But how is it that Marvel is thriving while DC can’t seem to figure out how to connect… anything? Or, for that
Surprise! It’s a Sequel! Read More »
By Barbara Kyle Mystery. Thriller. Romance. Science Fiction. Horror. The publishing industry uses these labels for what they call “genre” novels. Literary critics often dismiss genre novels as lightweight, even trivial. But are they? After all, it can be argued that even classic literary novels fall within the bounds of some genre. Jane Austen’s Pride
The Deep Thrill by Barbara Kyle Read More »
As some of you know, writers today are responsible for a significant portion of their books’ virtual and in-person promotion work. Marketing is fun but, at the same time, can be draining. I tend to push very hard for the month before and after a book’s release date. That means up to twelve hours a
Art as Therapy – Filling the Well by Cheryl Hollon Read More »
The word vagabond strolled into my head the other day. I’ve always liked the word so I was happy to see it and to have it stick around for a while. I like the sound of it—full and round but with concrete edges in the G and the D, and with that tiniest buzz you
The Writer as Vagabond by Molly MacRae Read More »
By Meri Allen (aka Shari Randall) I’ll never forget the moment I opened the email from my editor announcing the title of my cozy mystery debut in the Lobster Shack Mystery series. I was sitting across the breakfast table from my daughter who was enjoying a bowl of cereal when I read the title. “Curses,
Five Belles Too Many, the fifth Sarah Blair mystery from Kensington, releases June 28th and there still is so much to do. Here’s what’s going on, here’s what needs to still be done, and here’s where you might be able to help: I’m in the middle of a Great Escapes Tour. It began on June