Category archive: The Writing Life

New Release: Unholy Nights, A Twisted Christmas Anthology

For folks who like their Christmas a little twisted, seven tales of charms and magic, curses and intrigue…  Featuring novellas from popular authors Linda Barlow, Andra Brynn, Carly Carson, Alana Albertson, Kara Ashley Dey, Nicole Blanchard and Cherie Chulick.Dey, Nicole Blanchard and Cherie Chulick. Available now at Amazon and B&N for the Christmas sale prize…

Cover Reveal: A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

I am thrilled to reveal the cover of my novella, A Kiss is Just a Kiss, from the Unholy Nights Twisted Christmas Anthology (release date: December 2nd). It’s Christmas, but Holly Mathers can’t seem to get into the spirit. She’s been obsessing for weeks over a hook-up gone wrong with the hot, green-eyed Will MacIvey,…

Dorothy Dunnett and Me, part 2

“Are you going to post that?” asks my editor, who also happens to be my spouse. Uh-oh. “Yeah, I was planning to.” “It rambles a bit.” “I can tighten it up.” “But what were you trying to say?” These are not encouraging words to hear from one’s editor, particularly after only asking him to catch…

Dorothy Dunnett and Me

I am a passionate book-lover who reads across many genres, but my most beloved novels tend to be historical in setting, either straight historical fiction or well-written historical romance. I also enjoy historical fantasies. I grew up obsessed with books by Anya Seton, Mary Renault, Thomas B. Costain, Jan Westcott, Margaret Mitchell, and the queen…

Rewriting Old Classics

Once my books were finally published, back in the eighties and nineties, I thought that was it. They were in print, which seemed like an ending. Granted, some of my characters used to protest their dismissal from my mind. They were accustomed to talking to me, and with their fellow characters in their respective stories….

Joining the Indie Publishing Revolution

After countless hours struggling to format a 190,000 word novel in a manner that would be acceptable to Smashwords’ infamous Meatgrinder, I am declaring victory, at least for now. No more error messages. The Epub version looks readable, without any weird font variations. The links and table of contents all work. Yay! The brand-new 2013 edition…

Three Rules for Writing a Novel

Since I was having a bad day writing today, I made up this ecard and posted it on Facebook.  I guess a lot of other writers were having a similarly bad day, because it was shared more than anything I’ve ever posted before. Thank you very much, Somerset Maugham.    

Menu