I had a great blog idea I thought up when I was at RWA … and I can’t remember what it was. I should have written it down. :/ And then, I KNEW today was my blog day, but then I forgot. I posted our two new bloggers this week (Deborah and B.J.) and I guess my mind convinced me that I’d already posted my blog. So I’m really sorry that I’m so late. By now, you’ve all heard about the RITA and GH winners, but if you haven’t you can read them here. I want to single out Darynda… Read More

I’ve been a member of International Thriller Writers since almost the beginning of their organization. (In fact, I missed being a charter member by three days! Grr.) Since the first, small conference in Arizona in 2006, I’ve only missed one “Thrillerfest” when it conflicted with RWA. If there’s ever another conflict, I won’t be skipping out on Thrillerfest. There are many reasons why I love this conference, not least of which is the thriller/suspense focus. The conference is in New York City and gives me the opportunity to sit down with my editor and agent every year. While meeting in… Read More

July is a busy month for romance and thriller writers, and those of us who write romantic thrillers, we often have to chose between Thrillerfest and Romance Writers of America. Two conferences in one month is expensive, but since these are usually the only two conferences I attend, I save up. I find both valuable for not only my career, but my sanity–I get to hang with my fellow writers and see friends I usually only talk to online. I met Toni at the first Thrillerfest in Arizona–still the single best conference I’ve ever been to. We’ve been best buddies… Read More

As you all might remember, I’d never watched BONES until the end of last year when I spent four months watching the first six seasons, one show every night except for President’s Day weekend where I watched the entire truncated season three when I was sick for three days. (You can read more about my thoughts on this show over at Heroes & Heartbreakers, where I blogged about how they screwed up Booth and Brennan’s relationship.) I’d become so accustomed my new schedule of late night television, that when I was all caught up on my series, I needed something… Read More

As I write this blog, I have three major things going on in my life (outside of the kids, which is always like herding cats or juggling knives, depending on the day.) First, I’m writing a speech for the Desert Dreams conference this weekend in Arizona. When Rocki reads this, she’ll want to strangle me (fortunately, she lives 3,000 miles away) because she’s a staunch believer in writing, rewriting, and practicing speeches. I, on the other hand, usually have an idea, write it on the plane, read it out loud and edit when I get to the hotel, and then… Read More

It’s 11 a.m. on the East Coast as I write this blog — I’m late. (It’s 8 a.m. in California, where I live, but here at MSW we endeavor to schedule our blog to post between midnight and 6 a.m. ET, so I’m late.) Being late is the story of my life. My kids lament that I’m late to everything. Usually it’s only a couple minutes. Last year, when I was responsible for driving the kids to school, they were late 2 out of 5 days in the week. The tardies were so bad, I had to have a meeting… Read More

If you follow me regularly on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know I’ve left the fabulous mystery blog Murderati. You can read all about it here. In a nutshell: if I’m going to write three books a year and raise five kids, something had to give. I’ve talked about social media in the past, the pros and cons (and there are pros and cons, don’t let anyone tell you it’s all good or it’s all bad.) Blogging is part of “social media” but I think it goes a step beyond. It’s easy to Tweet a comment or retweet a link… Read More

Yesterday, an aspiring writer emailed me and asked if I had any advice. I told her: write every day, learn to discern advice from critique groups (or anyone who reads your work) to figure out if it makes your story stronger or not, be self-critical without being self-defeating, and edit ruthlessly. Few published authors sold their first completed manuscript–I sold my fifth. So if you love to write, and knew today that you would never be published, and yet you still wrote, you’re halfway to publication. That “I sold my fifth” means only one thing: I didn’t give up. Most… Read More

I’m sure most of you have seen the T-shirt with a mountain of books and the words, “So Many Books, So Little Time.” We all have our own towering TBR piles. I’ve decided that when you get unread books together, they procreate, because that’s the only explanation I have for my growing TBR piles. I wouldn’t actually buy any more books when I have so many unread, would I? (cough) But it’s not books I haven’t read that give me fits. It’s books I haven’t written. I will never say I have too many ideas for fear of jinxing my… Read More

Characters make the story, and nothing is more important to a successful series than good characters. This is doubly important for a romantic suspense series. There are very few out there where the hero and heroine have a growing relationship over the course of several books. JD Robb’s IN DEATH series is perhaps the best known example. 32 books in (which doesn’t include numerous short stories and novellas!) and Eve Dallas and Roarke are still interesting characters who are working through their conflicts without losing sight of the fact that they love, admire and respect each other. All while battling… Read More