• Sunday Snippet: The Start of a New Year Memos Edition

    Every so often, I do a memos edition–just random stuff that’s on my mind and needs to be dumped. This is one… feel free to add your own memos in the comments. I love it when you share! Dear Winter, Make up your mind already…snow and desperately freezing temperatures or mild and teasing us with spring? My daffodils are confused and so am I. Shiveringly, Nan ~*~*~*~ Dear Creative Brain, One book at a time, okay? Stay focused, finish Cam and Harper’s story, then you can move on. Distractedly, Nan ~*~*~*~ Dear Chocolate, Yes, I know you are delicious and wonderful and taste like magic, but you have to stop…

  • Happy Valentine’s Day–Here’s a Treat for You

    Patty, Judy, and Hidee–you are winners! You all will be receiving an ebook of The Valentine Wager! Thanks for stopping by! I love talking with my readers! Happy Valentine’s Day! Yup, it’s Valentine’s Day. Husband and I low-key it with a nice dinner here at home and maybe a card if we remember… which often one or both of us don’t. After 50 years of marriage, I like to think every day is Valentine’s Day. You with me? But since it’s a special day, here’s a little gift from me to you. Comment below with your favorite kind of Valentine gift–candy, flowers, dinner out, lingerie, jewelry… whatever. Just let me…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Writing from Other People’s Experiences Edition

    I’m writing book 3 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series–it’s Cam Walker’s story. He’s fallen in love with the new girl in town–a lovely young artist who also happens to be a widow. As a fiction writer, sometimes, my own life directs my storytelling, but honestly, most all of what I write comes from other people’s experiences, from absorbing narrative through films, books, music, and TV, and from listening. Okay, maybe eavesdropping in restaurants and airports and in groups of people, and from conversations I’ve been a part of and some that I’ve only been an observer in.  That’s all part of the discovery process–what happens before you start…

  • Author Spotlight: M.A. Guglielmo Is Back with a New Novel!

    We have a winner! Joannie Sico, you are M.A.’s giveaway winner–she will be in touch with you. Thanks, everyone, for stopping by! We love talking to our readers! I’m excited to welcome M.A. Guglielmo back to the Spotlight! She’s here today with Rifted Hearts, book 1 in her new Rift World fantasy romance series. M.A. has a lead magnet for it, a short-story prequel (“Witch City Rift”) set in a future Salem, Massachusetts. The story is a free download for people who want to sign up for her newsletter. M.A. Guglielmo is a neurosurgeon, mother of two awesome daughters, and a life-long fan of speculative fiction. Her Italian grandmother may…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Validation Edition, II

    You know who I envy? Writers who have complete faith in their work and themselves. The ones who write a book and always know immediately that it’s great stuff and is going to sell like hotcakes. Or the ones who may know their work needs help, but believe so strongly in their own stories that they push on, striving to make them better. They never doubt their abilities or spend days wondering what they’re doing trying to write a novel, for Pete’s sake. They don’t wonder if they’re fooling everyone, including themselves, with this whole author thing. Sometimes, I can be that writer. When a scene works perfectly, when I’ve…

  • Author Spotlight: Fiona Marsden is Here with an Upcoming Release and a Fun Giveaway!

    We have a winner! Janine, you were chosen at random as Fiona’s giveaway recipient. She will be in touch with you. Thanks a million to everyone who stopped by! We do love connecting with our readers! I’m so happy to welcome Fiona Marsden, another author pal from “down under,” to the Spotlight this week. Fiona Marsden has lived most of her life in rural Australia, sharing her five-acre block with kangaroos, wallabies, and the odd koala and possum. Born and bred in Queensland, Australia, Fiona grew up in the far west of the state, lived for several years in Brisbane and is now settled on the Granite Belt in the…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Annnd… We’re Off! Edition

    And so we are. Today, Liz and I are headed down to the hills of Southern Indiana for a writing retreat–our annual winter event. This is our third January retreat. We stay in a beautiful and comfortable inn in the center of the cute little town of Nashville. The Artist’s Colony Inn is the perfect place for a winter retreat with large cozy rooms and a fab restaurant, plus breakfast is included with our room. Our first Nashville retreat was in 2022 and we happened upon the Artist’s Colony after our original hotel turned out to be … well, not really prepared for our visit. Anyway, we scooted into town,…

  • Author Spotlight: Dakota Harrison is Back with Exciting News!

    We have a winner! Kathleen Shaputis, your name was randomly selected to receive a free e-book from Dakota! She will be in touch with you! Thanks, everyone, for stopping by! We love talking to our readers! I’m welcoming fellow Tule author Dakota Harrison back into the Spotlight today. Dakota lives in a (not so) sunny part of Queensland, Australia, with her human and fur kids, and harbors a strange love of UGG boots. K- and J-Pop feature heavily in her home, especially when drafting her novels, drawing inspiration for her heroes from the music videos and anime, much to her children’s delight and her husband’s sufferance. She loves writing both…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Eeek, I Need a Break Edition and a Question

    I’ve been working and writing pretty much nonstop for… well, for the last five years for sure and probably longer and I need a break. That’s not a whine…well, okay, maybe a little bit of a whine, but the fact is, I need to get away. Thankfully, I am getting away in about about a week! YAY! Liz and I are going on retreat for four days and I can’t wait. Retreat doesn’t mean I’ll stop writing. As a matter of fact our retreats are all about writing, but it does mean I’ll set my editing gigs aside for four days and focus entirely on the current WIP. Plus I…

  • Author Spotlight: Mystery Writer Carol Light Has a New Book!

    We have a winner! Kathleen Bylsma you were randomly drawn to receive Carol’s giveaway. Carol be in touch with you! Thanks to everyone for stopping by! We love talking to our readers! Know what I love? Carol Light’s Cluttered Crime Mysteries. And now there is a brand new one and her heroine, professional organizer Crys Ward, has somehow landed in the middle of another murder. Carol’s here to tell us all about writing this new book, plus she has a giveaway for one lucky commenter! Carol Light is an avid reader and writer of mysteries. She loves creating amateur sleuths and complicating their normal lives with a crime that they must…