I leave Thursday morning for the Writer’s Police Academy. I’m more than a little excited … I’ve been wanting to attend for the last few years, really since it began, but couldn’t make it fit into my schedule. This time they asked me to speak and I blocked off the week so I wouldn’t schedule anything. I’ll be missing my Anniversary, but it won’t be the first time … I’ll make it up to Dan when I get home. Two years ago I missed it because I was speaking to the New Zealand Romance Writers … and yeah, no way… Read More

Be the best you can be … the slogan sounds trite because we repeat it often enough, but when you really think about it, it’s deeper than most people think. Too often, we try to be the best. The best writer, the best mother, the best spouse, the best teacher, the best gamer. The pressure we put on ourselves to compete for the “best” slot is unbelievable. Or maybe that’s just me. I doubt it. I think we all put that pressure on ourselves at different time in our lives, or for different things in our life. Sometimes, I need… Read More

Last month, Nora Roberts posted a blog entitled “Bite Me” where she took issue with two things and spoke her mind. I agree with every word she said. I posted the link on my Facebook page because I felt it was a valuable lesson in social media etiquette. The gist of the blog was about two things: 1) Readers who insult other readers 2) Who writers write for You can (and should) read the blog (it’s short) to get the backstory, but in summary, Nora’s assistant posted about Nora’s new trilogy on Nora’s Facebook page where, presumably, Nora’s readers go for… Read More

Ten years ago today was my last day working for the California State Legislature. Make no mistake, I used to love my job in the Legislature. I went in as a 22 year old idealist thinking I could affect change. Thirteen years later, I was cynical and bitchy. There are a lot of reasons for that, which I can’t get into without getting political. But even though I worked full-time in the Capitol, I still wrote. Because I loved writing. I’d been doing it my entire life, it seemed, but without a purpose or goal. It took me years before… Read More

On one of the writer’s loops I participate in, a loop with both published and aspiring writers, a conversation started about the pros and cons of writing not only fast, but releasing four or more books a year. Now, the primary focus of this conversation began with the discussion of indie books – self-published, primarily digital books – where the “conventional wisdom” is that you must have at least five books in your body of work before you can see a serious uptick in sales. I put “conventional wisdom” in quotes because some indie authors have broken out big with… Read More

I have so many things to blog about … but no time to blog! Daughter finished up Winter Ball softball, now in soccer … son finished up football, now in basketball … I lost my extra drivers to college … and then of course WRITING! BOUCHERCON 2014 I attended by first Bouchercon! I had a panel and an impromptu panel (lead by Charlaine Harris and Sara Paretsky!) and I got to meet Sue Grafton (briefly — but it was worth it!) Isn’t she beautiful and gracious? And totally, completely “real” and unpretentious. I could write much more about the conference,… Read More

I’ve been quiet for the last few weeks because: 1) I took my #2 daughter to college. College prep, then driving and getting her settled, then coming home and catching up … took time. Lots of time. 2) Writing! Yes, writing is keeping me very busy. Last year I didn’t have as many tight deadlines; this year they seem to have crept up on me. But I finished the edits on MORTAL SIN, have been writing the next Lucy book (and having great fun!) and am expecting the page proofs for COMPULSION, the next Max book, this week. 3) Sports… Read More

Call me a bad mom, but I am THRILLED that today my kids are back in school. Now … I can get back to a routine. I’m not organized, and I’m not a big planner, and everyone knows I don’t plot … but I need to have a regular routine to write the three (or more) books a year I write.

Author Stephen Blackmoore posted on Twitter a great quote:

Some writers need complete silence to create. Others need white noise — soft music or ocean waves. Others need a lot of commotion or music that sets the scene — romantic music for love scenes, rock music for action scenes. I can write with almost any noise level. What I can’t do is write (well) with interruptions. This is why for years I wrote at Starbucks. The bustle of the shop didn’t bother me. I’d put my earbuds in, crank up my playlist, and write. I wrote my first nine books almost exclusively at Starbucks and one of two local… Read More