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Where Do Ideas Come From?
It’s funny how many times I catch myself going down a rabbit hole. Imagination is a wily beast. The other day I heard an intriguing story about a property site inspection where an abandoned suitcase was found. Because of the nature of the business and the timing of this incident, the authorities were called in…
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The Importance of Editing
You either have a “love it” or “hate it” relationship with editing. I used to despise the process, but after getting into creative writing, I enjoy it. While I don’t like editing my non-fiction work, fiction editing somehow “feels” different to me. But still, I’m no editor, and yes, some of my emails are cringe worthy. But I…
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Developing Your Craft
People are born with raw talent every single day. They’re blessed at birth to share their gifts with the world. But even the most genius of individuals must continually develop their craft. At the age of fifteen, Leonardo Da Vinci became an apprentice of painter and sculpture Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence so he could…
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If Life Gives You Lemons…Turn Them Into Characters
A few recent networking activities turned me sour. I’m a pretty positive person and I like to be around happy people. Sure, we all have our bad days, but optimism is a character trait I strive to embody and am naturally drawn to folks who exude it. That’s why these encounters still weigh heavy on…
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Writing My WIP’s Climax
Here I am busily working on my work in progress that is quite different from all the books I’ve written before. This is a mixture of suspense and political thriller with a little romance and science fiction tossed in. Of course, most of what I write is romantic suspense, but my WIP is heavier on…
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Embracing & Generating Publicity
This isn’t something that comes naturally to every author. In fact, many authors shy away from publicity and only do what is necessary to get their works in the public eye. On the other hand, many authors enjoy the publicity journey. They step into it confidently and are willing to support those of us who…
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Cruising Along to a Book Launch
Years ago, I went on a Caribbean Cruise with my mother. It was a wonderful chance for us just to get away together and enjoy one another’s company. Of course, it was also a fun vacation, relaxing and rejuvenating trip, too. Now, as all of us do in airports and malls, I love to people…
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Cultivating Inspirational Happenstance
Continuing my author’s journey of nourishing seeds of inspiration, I’ll share the second person who cultivated my interest in suspense and the protective services industry: My neighbor. When I was nine, we moved to a new home. My neighbor was a busy working professional, his wife was unfortunately bedridden, and their children lived out of…
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Sneak Peek: Mistaken Identity
As you know, this is the first book in the series currently being shopped to publishers by my literary agent. I was thrilled when she called to let me know that she wanted to represent my book. Of course, I was also over the moon when she shared that this first book in my SAT…
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Setting Writing Goals
Every author has a differing and uniquely personal approach to writing. But authors share one process in common—setting and achieving word count goals. Your writing goals are everything. It’s how you get the ideas out of your head and on to the page. But it’s not just about word count. Writing goals include pages completed,…