There is a question authors have to ask themselves with every new book: How much is my book worth? We spend countless hours dreaming and brainstorming, drafting and rewriting, editing and revising. Then, we have someone else look at it and we edit it again. But the time we finally press publish, we have likely […]
Fiction and Crochet
Writing fiction is a lot like doing crochet. For instance, I could say that fiction needs to read smoothly, much like crochet stitches need to be smooth and even. I could draw some analogy between the characters in a story and types of stitches or colors of yarn. Or perhaps compare types of yarn with […]
Top 10 Book Dedications on my Shelf
Readers often overlook the book dedication (unless a book is dedicated to them), but they mean a lot to us authors. And some of them are just as entertaining or endearing as the novel itself. For example: To Collin Firth. You’re a great guy, but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends. […]
A Forever Type of Romance
“Marriage is hard. It takes work. When you say those vows, you’re making a promise to God to stick to it, even when it gets rough. And it will get rough, but you can get through it if you work together.” This is the advice I gave to all three of my children and their […]
Overlapping Timelines
I’m in the process of finishing the final edits on the next book in a series featuring triplet brothers. The first book, Valerie’s Verdict, was about Brad, the organized leader of the group. That book ends two years before this book, Alexandra’s Appeal, begins. This book is about the prodigal brother, Jon. We catch up […]
Christmas in July
Yes–I know it’s June, but it’s almost July and hey, it’s 2020–anything can happen. Besides, I had to post this in June to prepare us for July, right? Although Hallmark is still playing Christmas movies in June. In fact, my favorite one from last year, The Mistletoe Secret, starring Kelly Pickler was on a couple […]
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 […]
How Being an Empath Impacts My Writing (and everything else)
It’s always been hard to explain the difference between sympathy and empathy. It’s even harder to describe being an empath versus feeling empathy, but the best I’ve been able to come up with is this: empaths are highly absorbent emotional sponges in human form. Unlike sympathy, which is essentially identifying someone’s emotional state and reacting […]
The Name Game
Hello! Lindi here! So, a little story back from when I first started writing oh so many years ago. This may not be true of all authors, but it was for me. Me Back Then: Change my heroines name? No way! If an editor can’t see how her name is a part of the […]
Someday My Prince will Come by Deb Kastner
And apparently, that day is today—in the book I’m writing, at least. I’ve been married to my real-life Prince Charming for thirty-three years and have currently been quarantined with him for two months. I almost lost him three years ago to a double stroke, so I know just how blessed I am right now—even if […]