Relief and longing swirled with hesitation. He hadn’t called her yesterday because he hadn’t wanted the loss to be true. He didn’t have some pastor-like perspective to share to explain it. These lines are from a draft of my upcoming novel, A Surefire Love, when the hero, Anson, is at his lowest. Someone pointed out […]
Hidden Gems
Have you ever read a book and scratched your head at a familiar reference you couldn’t quite place? You’ve read it somewhere before, maybe in another work from that author. Perhaps what you’ve stumbled over is an author’s hidden gem, otherwise known as a nod, a wink, or an easter egg (I’m not capitalizing here […]
When the Cover is Made Before the Book
The person who said “a picture is worth a thousand words” had clearly not met an author who buys pre-made book covers. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a pre-made book cover is one that a designer has made without being commissioned by an author or a publishing house. It’s a cover that’s waiting […]
Coincidence or God-incidence?
“Good timing.” “Couldn’t have planned that better if I’d tried.” “In the right place at the right time.” “It just so happened…” We have all kinds of sayings like this, don’t we? But how often do we stop and wonder why we happened to be in the right place at the right time or how […]
Using AI Prompts for Inspiration
Have you ever seen a writer’s mood board? Some authors create a smorgasbord of photos featuring main characters, locales, special phrases, and animals to inspire them as they write. Back in the day, we could cut out pictures from magazines or print photos of models or actors from the internet, then paste them onto a […]
Announcing My Next RomCom
I signed a contract for a new RomCom releasing this summer! Before I tell you the title or premise, I thought I’d take you through the inspiration, research, and plotting stages with me, so you can see where stories come from. Inspiration: Author Sarah Monzon posted the picture below on her Facebook page. This man […]
Now Playing
Are you into playlists for novels? I’ll be honest. I’m not, as a general rule. I have never yet hunted down an author’s music choices to play on repeat while I read their novel. But, I think there are two kinds of playlists. The first is the background music some authors curate to set the […]
How “real life” can influence a story
Do you ever wonder where authors get their ideas? Whether it is my own life, the lives of those around me, or other forms of story, art, and musice — we find inspiration in lots of places! For my recent CCR release The One Who Promised Forever, it was really heavily inspired by real life […]
Ripped from the Headlines
It was the summer of 2022. The tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas had thrown me for a huge loop for a whole bunch of reasons: Uvalde is only a five-hour drive from where I live in South Texas, so it felt like it had happened in my own backyard The mother of a student […]
Happily Ever After
Read a hundred back cover blurbs of romance novels, and you’ll find a hundred different tropes, meet cutes, plot twists, and challenges to overcome—the list could go on. But all will/should have one thing in common: the path will ultimately lead to a happy ending. And they all lived happily ever after. Being the curious […]