I’m guest blogging today over at Denise Agnew’s place, talking about my love of short stories and how it all got started … please join me there! Fear in Small Bites

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

On Friday, I took the day off to play with my daughter, Mary. We all need a play date every now and then. This one centered around my editor’s invitation to go to a Giants game with her and her 11 year old son, who’s only days older than Mary, while they were on vacation out here in the Far West. In fact, considering that I write nearly every day, taking a full day off is rare, and getting a day with just one of the kids is even rarer. I think Mary had a lot of fun … she… Read More

Author Stephen Blackmoore posted on Twitter a great quote:

I promised an excerpt to RUN, Laura Griffin’s part of our new book HIT AND RUN that launches today. (Yeah! Cheers! Applause!) I think one of the reasons I love writing this series with Laura is because our writing meshes together. We don’t write exactly alike, we compliment each other. There are a few authors I’m confident that if I recommend them to my readers, I’ll score a victory — meaning, my reader will love the books. Laura is one of those authors. I can hardly wait to start the last book in this series. But … I have to… Read More

Laura and I are thrilled that HIT AND RUN, book two in the Moreno & Hart Mystery Series, will be on-sale Monday. It’s available for pre-order at Amazon, Kobo, and the iBookstore. Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble Nook doesn’t let most indie authors set-up a pre-order link. I’ve asked. Many times. Believe me … if I see the Nook rep at RWA, I’ll be asking them. They weren’t at Thrillerfest (Amazon and iBooks were both there!) This is the HIT AND RUN weekend … so I hope you enjoy!

It’s been over a week since I blogged — lots of things have been going on. Traveling. Writing. Moving my younger daughter into my oldest daughter’s bedroom. I finally have a breather to write this blog. There are plenty of recaps of Thrillerfest on the Internet, I don’t need to rehash it. Suffice it to say it’s my favorite conference for a lot of reasons. Though expensive (it’s in NYC), they have a plethora of panels and workshops for readers and authors of all levels. They have cocktail parties each night, an amazing banquet, and it’s an opportunity for me… Read More

I have two conferences coming up — Thrillerfest in NYC and RWA in San Antonio. I have a lot to say about these conferences, and you’ll hear most of it over the next couple of weeks, but today I want to talk about CLOTHES. I’m a writer. When I get up in the morning, I walk on the treadmill, take my shower, and dress in clean pajamas or maybe — if I might be going out later — sweats and a T-shirt. I spoke to a writers group in Elk Grove last week and lamented that I had to find… Read More

I’m not talking about Frankenstein or Catcher in the Rye, I’m talking about MY old books — books I wrote years ago and am now re-reading. Cringe. I have three side projects going right now. Yeah, I know. But I’m waiting on line edits for COMPULSION and what else do I do? Clean? Ha! The first is taking my first six books and digitally publishing outside of the North American market. I paid to have them scanned (because I don’t have the original edited files anymore — wonder how THAT happened!) and am proofreading them primarily for scanning and formatting… Read More

I tell people I don’t lead a glamorous life … because I don’t. I write full-time, I watch a lot of television, I have five kids to chauffeur around, and I ultimately live vicariously through my characters. I brought my lone copy of DEAD HEAT with me so you can see how boring I am. I’ll start on Thursday, because Thursday was my daughter Mary’s last softball game for the season. It was also Kelly’s last day of high school — she graduates this week. And I finished the revisions to COMPULSION Thursday afternoon, which was a great feeling. Especially… Read More