The other day I went to a book festival event near my hometown. This secular event had a number of high profile Australian authors speak, include Tom Kenneally (author of Schindler’s Ark which became the film Schindler’s List) and Candice Fox, who co-writes with James Patterson and has had TV shows made of her books. […]
Redeeming the Bad Guy # Giveaway
Over the years, I’ve redeemed several bad girls and a few bad guys. It always makes me wish I could manipulate real people the way I do my characters. Currently, I’m molding a bad boy rock star fresh out of rehab into hero material. On top of that, he abandoned his twins six years ago. […]
New Year Goals #Giveaway
Happy New Year’s Eve. It’s an especially special day at our house since it’s our son’s birthday. He’s twenty. How did that happen? Wasn’t it just yesterday that after 2 1/2 months of bed rest, the doctor sent me to the hospital to be induced. Three hours of pain later, a nurse said, “Maybe you’ll […]
New Year Resolution and Romance (& a Preorder)
Amid all the rush and tinsel of Christmas it can seem a little odd to be thinking about New Year’s. But for me, a lot of my attention this year has been focused on what’s happening at the end of the year. Why? Because next week sees the launch of my first independently published book, […]
Inspy Christmas Reads #Giveaway
In case you didn’t find enough books on black Friday, here’s a round-up of Christmas reads by Inspy Romance authors. Make your list and check it twice. It’s a doozy that should get you through New Years :) Seaside Christmas: A Sydney Sweethearts Novella Narelle Atkins Chelsea Somers is the girl he never called back. […]
Awkward Proposals
Was your proposal PERFECT? You know. Flowers, starlight, candles, down-on-one-knee perfect? Straight-out-of-a-romance-novel perfect? Well, mine wasn’t. Are you confused? I was, too. You see, my then-boyfriend and I had been dating for over two years. He was getting ready to graduate in a month, and everything was up in the air. I was stressed out […]
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 […]
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 […]
Wandering
by: Staci Stallings Let’s start with this: I am not a Lord of the Rings fan. I apologize to those of you who love it, but I must confess that I am not among that number. My children once had the movies on our television in the living room, and I didn’t leave my office […]
Books & Puzzles # Giveaway
I love jigsaw puzzles, but it’s been several years since I’ve done one. When I was a kid, I remember my Uncle Spud always had a puzzle. When I visited or spent the night with my cousins, he’d let me ‘help’ with his puzzle. Over the years, my parents bought me puzzles and my love […]