June is the official (maybe unofficial) wedding season. You’ve got great weather in the western hemisphere that makes for the perfect time to tie the know and say I do. It’s also the perfect time to release an anthology collection about weddings. I wrote a novella called Finally a Sweetheart that follows a woman who is always […]
Daddies are Special #Giveaway
In 2007, I received word that I’d finaled in the Touched By Love writing contest and the winners would be announced at the Faith, Hope, & Love Conference in Dallas in July. I’d already paid and planned to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in September, also in Dallas that year. My husband […]
5 Romances Set Where The BlackTop Ends
Something extraordinary happens when you step onto a modern-day dirt road, doesn’t it? Like you are instantly transported to a time of simple living, where love is unencumbered by technology and city (or even suburban) life. The stories have the feel of historicals while remaining relatable to our present circumstances because it’s easy to believe […]
Character Hometowns: Jasper Alabama #giveaway
Characters all need a hometown plus a life history, and it can become challenging to give them each a unique place to come from. An author needs to have some basic knowledge of that setting, so I mostly write about places I know. In Tackling the Fields, I went back to my mother’s roots to […]
What About Setting? #Giveaway
I write in layers. That means, my first draft is mainly dialogue, character thought, and emotion. Once I complete the book, I go back in and add setting, description, movement, body language, and timeline. I used to weave my setting and timeline in as I wrote the first draft. Until my editor asked if I […]
Playing it (Not So) Cool & #Giveaway
Hello, new friends! To say I am excited to share my very first post as an Inspy Romance author is a huge understatement. In fact, when I received the invitation to join the incredible community of IR bloggers, I most definitely did not play it cool. I happened to be visiting my parents for my […]
A New Leaf #Giveaway
So I got a new desk. I didn’t mean to. It was supposed to be for my husband. I do most of my furniture shopping on Facebook Marketplace and flea markets. I’d found a white desk just like it a few months ago, but it was three hours away. So when I found this one […]
Series Boxed Sets: Yea or Nay? + giveaway
In recent years we’ve seen a huge uptick in the sales of boxed sets for books, especially eBooks. I’ve been part of half a dozen MABS—that’s multi-author box sets—over the last few years myself, and as a reader I love those because I can get to sample new-to-me names. But today, I’m talking about single […]
Revisiting Characters
A Texas Bond, book three in my Texas Hill Country series, officially released last week. It was inspired partly by my husband and I dabbling in flea marketing after shopping them for years. The picture I included is the booth we had full of items we created or repurposed. It was fun fitting our […]
Birth Order & Relationships (+ #Freebook)
In case you didn’t know, I have a background in psychology, which explains why I love to write and read character-driven stories. I enjoy figuring out what makes people tick and how their backgrounds and life experiences help shape who they are. One area I especially like delving into is birth order. Here are some […]