I would be hard-pressed to find a writer who hadn’t spent years reading before he or she put that first sentence to a page. So many writers I know write books today because they fell in love with reading at a young age. I’m one of those writers, too. One reason? My walk home […]
TBR Adventures
I love the new year and the focus I begin to see in reader circles on planning books for the year. There are so many fun things readers do — from Goodreads challenges (which is generally just a number of books you hope to read) to monthly (or other) theme challenges. Of course, challenges aren’t […]
How Far Will You Go to Meet an Author?
Hi all! Fall is here. I’m being upfront and honest–I don’t care for Pumpkin Spice anything. I hope you’ll keep reading!! Seriously, though, I do need your help. As readers are you interested in meeting the authors whose books you enjoy? I hope the answer is yes. So let’s talk scenarios. Some of you that […]
The Strength of Story
I attended a ladies’ retreat this past weekend. It wasn’t a sleep-away retreat, thankfully. Those of us who are introverts need some down time in-between all that socializing. Even so, there was a lot of peopling that occurred. When you get a group of women together and discuss the things of God, some truths come […]
How Bad Can She Be?
Do you like heroines who have a checkered past? Do you like a heroine who has a checkered present? How much are you willing to overlook in the heroine’s journey to redemption? As you can see from the blurb above, Annie Payton has a past she is trying to live down. So her bad-girl […]
Bring On the Backlist (+ #Giveaway)
Before I became an author, I had no idea what a backlist was. In case you don’t either, this word means “a publisher’s older books that are still in print”. Therefore, backlist titles are basically books that are not new releases. The reason I bring this up is because I recently polled my newsletter subscribers […]
Favorite Covers # Giveaway
I’ve been browsing bookshelves again. But instead of my usual bookstore hangout, I’ve been browsing online. My agent is getting my newest proposal ready to send out and asked for comparables. This is where I have to find titles published by the publishers I hope will publish my book. Wow, that’s a lot of publishing […]
Main Characters with Disabilities
I got a Facebook Message the other day from one of my long-time reader/reviewers. In it, she talked about some of the people in her life with various disabilities and encouraged me to write a story (or two) with main characters who are differently abled. I let her know that I would think on how […]
Summer Love and Cookouts
It’s a gazillion degrees outside here in New Mexico. We’ve spent weekends in Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas in the past two months, and it’s been H-O-T hot there too. I know it’s not summer for half the world right now, but many of you still know the sticky, sweaty, blazing sun, furnace-blast-to-the-face feeling of a […]
Work/Life Balance
We’re about halfway through summer. My how time flies! Baby Emily is over a month old now and we just signed Anthony up at the nearby middle school. It’s been so crazy around here that I realize I’ve taken very few moments to just…well…be. July 22nd is National Hammock Day, which brings to mind relaxing […]