Catalyst For A Series: My Unexpected “Aha!” Moment from The Blackwater Lightship

Photo Credit: Dark light… come shine in her lost heart tonight, taken on 26 November 2016 by Nikk: The Maniac Macrographer/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 I’ve talked quite a bit about inspiration on my blog. In this blog post I discuss how I believe inspiration is something you don’t sit around and wait for but go out and …

What’s in a Tagline? Picking Apart My Tagline

Photo Credit: Woman with veil, dark Gothic fantasy image, uploaded December 24, 2014 by LoganArt: LoganArt/ Pixabay/CC0 1.0 Last week, the Sisters in Crime organization held a webinar for authors about author branding. The idea of “branding” is relatively new buzzword in business and marketing (when it comes to people rather than products, that is) but …

Happy New Year!!! (Plus 2019 Blog Updates)

Photo Credit: Hip, hip, hurra! Kunstnerfest på Skagen, Peder Severin Kroyer, 1888, oil on canvas, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden: Thuresson/Wikimedia Commons/PD Art (PD old 100) First off, here’s wishing everyone a happy New Year!!! I know that 2018 was a tough year for me and I think it was a tough year for …

Blog Break and Series Fact Sheet

Photo Credit: Illustration from “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”, Sydney Paget, Strand Magazine, 1904: Sebastian Wallroth/Wikimedia Commons/PD Art (PD Old 100) Thank you to all the wonderful people who are continuing to check out my blog. The support and encouragement has been overwhelming! I will be traveling abroad for the next several months so …

It’s Camp Nano Time Again!

Photo Credit: Summer in Connecticut – The Old Barn at Branchville, J. Alden Weir, 1890’s, oil on canvas, Christie’s, New York: Trzesacz/Wikimedia Commons/PD Old 95 1934 Some of you might remember that I took a blogging break in April because of Camp Nano . Well, it's summer and Camp Nano is upon us again and I've decided to …

Character vs. Plot Puzzles: The Two Sides of My Fictional World

Photo Credit: Multi-colored puzzle pieces, uploaded 17 February 2017: Pixhere/CC0 1.0 Last week, I announced in a live Facebook post on my author page that I’m exploring new directions with my fiction. I also created a Coming Soon page on my website with more details about what I’m doing and why and what readers can expect in …

First Worlds: Writing and Blogging in New Directions

Photo Credit: The Blue Veil by Edmond Tarbell, oil painting, 1898: freeparking/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 “The creative personality never remains fixed on the first world it discovers. It never resigns itself to anything ... “ (Nin, location 3587) I love this quote from Nin because it’s so true of many creative people. The nature of creativity …

Camp Nano Blog Break

Photo Credit: Summer in Connecticut - The Old Barn at Branchville, J. Alden Weir, 1890's, oil on canvas, Christie's, New York: Trzesacz/Wikimedia Commons/PD Old 95 1934 I posted this week's blog post (here) a few days earlier than usual for a reason. I'll be taking April off to concentrate on my goals for Camp NanoWriMo. I will …

Author Dream Series: Laura Heffernan

We’ve had a couple of no-shows with the Author Dream Series lately but the lovely women’s fiction/romantic comedy author, Laura Heffernan! As a child, I wanted to be a writer, a veterinarian, or (sadly) a model on Star Search. Well, it turns out, I’m terrified of blood so all medical-related professions are out. Models have …

Wait out Winter Giveaway!

~~~~~~~~~ ***PLEASE READ FIRST!!!*** If you click on the giveaway link and there is nowhere to enter your email address, DO NOT PANIC!!! Per the giveaway organizers: If you came through Facebook or logged in on Rafflecopter it automatically grabs your email address. You can click the little toggle in the upper right where it’ll …