Clothing makes the man, er, woman By Maggie Toussaint Sometime in college or thereafter, I read a book, and I’m blanking on the title, and it was about clothing being our costumes for whatever we were doing. That was a realization I’d never articulated before, but it explained so much about my conservative wardrobe choices. […]
Do you read with your ears? By Terry Odell Apologies – I’ve been out of town and didn’t realize the link to the audio sample of What’s in a Name? wasn’t live in the post. It’s been fixed, so I hope you’ll have a listen. One of my guest interview questions for my blog is […]
Family Secrets By James M Jackson As very young children, we are impressionable and believe whatever we are told: The stork brings babies to the hospital. The Easter Bunny hides our colored eggs and brings baskets with jellybeans and chocolate. Santa and his reindeer deliver presents all over the world in one night. An older […]
Early Role-Playing By Nancy J Cohen Our young lives at play often prepare us for later roles in life. Or at least this is true for girls who like to play house. It’s not so true for boys who pretend to be super heroes. One thing I liked to play was “Secretary.” My mother had […]
Soundtracks by Karla Brandenburg Music is an integral part of who I am. I grew up with it and we have a running joke about “that music affliction,” which means at any point in time, any member of my family might just break into song as it applies to the topic under discussion. Most of […]
Changing Protags By Tina Whittle My protagonists, they are a’changing, and in some very surprising ways. As their author, I’m trying hard to keep up. I’m working on the sixth book in my Tai Randolph and Trey Seaver series (working title: That Blankety-Blank Book). My two main characters have been solving crimes together since the […]
Summer Food I know summer is here when the strawberries bloom! As a kid, we used to visit the farm where my mom grew up and go strawberry picking. We came home with quarts and quarts of strawberries that turned into delicious strawberry freezer jam and strawberry topping and strawberry shortcake. Once I had a […]
Guilt and more guilt By Maggie Toussaint Some days are full of coulda-beens and woulda-beens. You know what I’m talking about, those things we’ve done and those things which we’ve left undone. The stuff that makes us feel icky inside. Yes, I’m talking about the worst kind of trip – a guilt trip. It can […]
In the Name of Research by Terry Odell Tina Whittle addressed writing what you know in her Let’s Talk post a while back, and how research is important. Google is a writer’s friend, but so are contacts with experts. My Triple-D Ranch romantic suspense series is set against the backdrop of a Colorado cattle ranch, […]
Pre-launch by James M Jackson Technically, everything that occurs before a novel is published could be included in the broad definition of pre-launch. The demarcation line for me is the point my efforts switch from making the manuscript the best book possible to letting people know the book exists. I take off the writer hat […]
