Are you ready to self-publish? There are too many sites to count that will tell you how to do it. I want to be straight with you about the risks–emotional and practical–of getting into self-publishing.

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning. At our house, we’ve added a half-serious, half-ridiculous line to the saying: Yellow sky, prepare to die. Pretty extreme, yes. It comes from my growing up in tornado-prone landscapes. The pre-tornado skies usually progressed from rainy, to cloudy and still, to yellow, and …Read More

It’s still October, the spooky month, and I’ve been looking at all the deals on horror novels out there. Horror is hot right now–Mr. King gave it a big kick in the pants with the long-related release of the film adaptation of IT. That’s pretty cool. And a rising tide of blood affects all boats–isn’t …Read More

  Have you read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? No, I mean have you read it recently? It’s one of those books that you might have read if you had a very cool 11th grade English teacher. (We read The World According to Garp by John Irving. That was definitely eye-opening.) I don’t think I actually read …Read More

  Have you read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? No, I mean have you read it recently? It’s one of those books that you might have read if you had a very cool 11th grade English teacher. (We read The World According to Garp by John Irving. That was definitely eye-opening.) I don’t think I actually read …Read More

      It wasn’t until we were cleaning up the dinner dishes last Thursday night, and my husband mentioned that there were only three months left until Christmas, that I remembered that September 25th was a special anniversary for me. On September 25th, 2007, Isabella Moon, my debut novel, was published in hardcover. I took me eight years …Read More

      The thing about writing stories and publishing is that they’re both very much like that old Lay’s potato chip slogan: You can’t eat just one. (No, please don’t eat books–no matter how much you love them.) So many people I’ve met who say they want to write, or want to be a writer, claim …Read More

  BLISS HOUSE is number four. I never imagined I would have four novels out in the world, all available in one form or another. In fact, for at least half of my life I never thought seriously of being a writer at all. But then I suddenly, irrevocably, absolutely knew that it was what I …Read More

Oh, good! I’ve been tagged. Welcome to the latest stop on The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. This particular blog tour invites writers to answer ten questions about their current Work in Progress, or forthcoming project. Each tagged writer answers the questions, then tags five or more writers to answer the questions on their blog, …Read More

Since I didn’t make it to church this week, I’m going to use today’s blog as a confessional vehicle, okay? It’s about…romance. I know. I’m aghast, too. Friday night I fell asleep watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on my iPad. The falling asleep part had more to do with my tiredness than the film. …Read More