The first hundred pages are the hardest. Everything is set up in those chapters—the protagonist, the supporting cast, the mystery, the dynamics. These first pages take the majority of my time. I do a lot of staring out the window.

…that is possibly the most painful part of writing a novel—the times when you realize it’s wrong. And you’re alone, no editor (yet) telling you how it’s wrong and suggesting ways to fix it. It’s just wrong in your head and you know in your gut that you have to go back.

I wrote down the snippets of what the characters said, what I saw when Liv Asher drove her old Ram truck with its Wyoming plates and its layers of dust into downtown Denver. I wrote how her dog, Ranger, paced uncomfortably along the truck’s bench seat, whining—perhaps at the unfamiliar sight of bright city lights against the dark sky.

Even on a wonderful girls’ holiday, I still found myself coming back to the green notebook, making notes on final scenes, on the big reveal(s), and on those reflective moments that will close the novel.

They say there are two types of writers, those who make a long outline and plan it all out and those who write by the seat of their pants.

I have to admit, I’ve tried—and failed—at both.

Definition of spoonerism

: a transposition of usually initial sounds of two or more words (as in tons of soil for sons of toil)

What I’ve got isn’t exactly a spoonerism problem although I have yet to find the correct diagnostic term for my particular verbal ailment.

Making the most of winter when you’re really over winter…

It would make sense that the best part of writing book is “The End.” But it’s not.

Goals. I’m making goals. 

Today is the first day my new website is live. I love new. It’s fresh and clean and, well, new...

In the summer months, I drink a cup or cup and a half and, by then, the day is warm and coffee loses it’s appeal. But in winter…. I’m OBSESSED.

As a kid, I was told I was stubborn. I was told this a lot. This was NEVER a compliment.

19 years ago today, I deposited my first royalty check as an author…

Let’s be honest… it’s all about the pie.

I LOVE dressing up for Halloween. Maybe it’s because my brain is always full of crazy characters and it’s fun to act them out. Or maybe it’s because I spend my days alone in the basement and am starving for human attention.

I'm a sucker for a series... and I LOVE when I discover one where there is more than one book out so I can dive from book #1 right into book #2.

In speaking of blood (and other things), "splatter" means to fall or drop as in spots. Spatter, on the other hand, means "to spurt forth in scattered drops, as in blood spattering everywhere."

I consider myself a plot-driven writer. Nothing gets me more jazzed than a twisted murder committed by a shadowy villain.

I'm reworking a book that I published 5 years ago. This is not something I recommend ever doing, but here I am.