Category: Guest Post

Guest Author Denise Swanson

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

Romance and Mystery – by Denise Swanson

As a reader, I always felt there were two components to a great plot—mystery and romance. And as a writer, I find it darn near impossible not to include both of those elements in my stories. It’s a little like that old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial, I get either mystery mixed up into my romances or romances mixed up into my mysteries.

I blame this on my favorite pre-teen series Trixie Belden. There was always a hint of romance running through those books. Would Trixie and Jim Frayne end up together? Hint. In my Scumble River series, I answer that question how I wanted it to be answered. […]

Read More

Photo Credit: Terry Ambrose

Maddie Day Guest Post

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

I’m getting excited for my next Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery to release. Murder at Cape Costumers is the eighth in the series, and it will be out on August 26th. The books take place in fictional Westham on Cape Cod in the general area of Falmouth. If you don’t know the Cape, Falmouth is at the other end of the peninsula from the curved scorpion’s tail that ends in Provincetown. This series started back in 2019 with Murder on Cape Cod, the title of which was my editor’s idea. What does a title have to do with building a town? Well, my editor then suggested that each book be a murder in or at a Main Street business in Westham. In the same way I often respond to his suggestions, I said, “I can do that.” (John S. has excellent suggestions.) […]

Read More

Fifth Monday Guest Author Judy Penz Sheluk

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

Anthologies & Lemon Meringue Pie As the editor and publisher of four (soon to be five) multi-author anthologies of mystery and suspense, I’m often asked how I select the stories that appear in the collections. It’s a fair question. Over the course of those five anthologies, I’ve read close to 400 submissions. Of those, I’ve […]

Read More

Guest Author Alyssa Maxwell Muses on the Holidays

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

The holidays are almost over and I’ll be sad to see them go. Because I love it all: the music, the lights, the food, people being a little nicer to each other . . . But there’s a good chance I’ll soon be getting a lot more writing done than I have in the past few weeks. Between shopping, preparing, wrapping, socializing, etc., it’s been hard to be productive. Whether you’re a writer or you devote your time to anything else on a regular basis, I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. But sometimes I wonder if the distraction… […]

Read More

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

Is life stressing you out? Take a breath and relax. Or so we’re told. Some days, it’s not so simple. I’ve learned how to breathe four times in my life. Once, with that first, lifegiving gasp. The second time, when I was five and learning how to swim. Third time, in acting class, with lessons on voice projection and breath control. The most important breathing lesson came a decade later. As a young adult I was introduced to biofeedback, a kind of visualization technique used to control some of our body functions like heart rate, breath, muscle response, and brain waves. It can help relax muscles, decrease heart rate, and slow and deepen breathing. It has been clinically proven to help with a myriad of ailments. […]

Read More

Black Pearl

Calisthenics for Characters

Posted on by Lois Winston

Recently, I came across a question from a new writer who asked, “Is it okay to use a real person to create a character?” That’s a tricky question because writers get their ideas from so many areas. A vacation we take might stir a potential setting. A newspaper article may influence a plot. But basing a character on a real person, especially if the person isn’t a public figure, can be detrimental to an author’s career. Lawsuits have been filed (and won) when a person recognizes themselves in a book. […]

Read More