When my husband first asked if I was okay with him buying a Harley, I said, “Honey, I’m a romance writer.” Meaning, “Yes.” First of all, he’d supported my dreams of writing, so I wanted to support his dream of riding. Secondly, I thought riding a motorcycle would be like I’d written it in my […]
How authors use Pinterest & why readers love it too!
I always say I’m a reader first, author second. It’s true! And as a reader, I love anything that connects me to books, especially social media. I know not everyone loves social media (there are times I certainly don’t!), but the one feed you have most control over what you see is Pinterest! If you’ve […]
Free Wedding Planning
When I got married 17 years ago (on the 11th), some of the fancy things they have now weren’t available. Or at least not widely popular like they are today. How do I know this, seeing as I’ve been happily married for almost two decades? Well, some of the books I’ve been writing to come […]
Research and Writing (plus a sneak peek)
Some writers love to research. I have a few author friends whose favorite part of writing is heading to the library and returning with a stack of informational texts or opening a dozen internet browser tabs and clicking through page after page. I am not one of these people. I’m sure it goes along with […]
When Characters Travel-Real Life Novel Settings: LA & Malibu #Giveaway
Hello Inspy Readers! I’m continuing my posts about real-life novel settings, this time focusing on Los Angeles and Malibu, California. While my first two novels in the Southern Heart Series are mostly set in Oxford, Mississippi, the characters do end up traveling to California. These West Coast cities are very far from where I live, […]
Farm and Family
When I decided to write a series centered around a cattle ranching family, I knew there would be many hours of research involved. Ranching is more than a job—it’s a way of life, and it’s often an inheritance. You pick up right where your parents left off. I grew up on a cattle farm in […]
Dressing My Characters
If I didn’t have the Internet, I don’t think I could write. I could research at a library, I know. I can work a card-catalog like no one, and digging through books and discovering facts brings me great joy. But, there’s one thing that having the Internet does for me that wouldn’t be as effective […]
Diseases in Fiction with Janet W. Ferguson
Diseases in Fiction with Janet W. Ferguson Bad things happen in life. Fictional stories would be pretty boring if nothing bad ever happened there too. I like fiction that leaves me with a good feeling at the end, though. So, in my stories, people have accidents or injuries or fires or hurricanes—you name it—that affect […]
Writing What You Know: Character Edition
Research is a fundamental part of writing. There is an old saying that goes, “Write what you know.” While writing only what I know would give me a book or three, that would be the end of my career. You can only get so much entertainment out of one person’s experiences and then the well […]
Things Authors have to Google (and other ways we research)
Google is a writer’s best friend – or at least it seems that way sometimes! I’ve researched everything from bread baking techniques (for Danielle in Summer to Remember) to how to embezzle money from a doctor’s office (Spring Fever). While we often pull from experience from former jobs, relationships, or current hobbies, sometimes we get […]