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

First, I want to apologize to our loyal MSW readers for our Summer Slump. While we’ve been redesigning and reorganizing the blog, we have been neglecting it … that will change, just please have patience while we’re under construction! STALKED is done. I turned it into my editor on Tuesday and spent yesterday a complete vegetable, playing games with the kids and goofing off. Then I went to bed early — 10:30. That’s early for me, because I’m usually up until 2 in the morning. Today, it’s back to work! I’m editing a novella I wrote 6 years ago. Needless… Read More

Deb and I were planning on writing an exchange for today’s blog because our dear and darling Sophie is stuck, but between my trip to the Desert Dreams conference and my deadline in 48 hours, I completely forgot. And Deb herself is writing and promoting her Colby series (see yesterday’s post!) and she probably forgot, too. So we’re late this morning … apologies all around. ANYWAY, one thing I definitely want to share is how much I love regional conferences. I’ve spoken to several, all between 200-300 people, and I think that number is perfect. Big enough to have a… 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

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 neck deep in revisions for KISS ME, KILL ME — due in four days — so my creative energies are focused solely on rewriting the climax scenes. (And no, I’m not talking about sex!) Last time I was here, I posted a story my daughter wrote for a school project on ENDER’S GAME. It was amazing. Well, I just read her latest school writing project–a 1200 word short story. She wrote a ghost story that is amazing. But what is really hilarious, is that it’s not due for two weeks. What WAS due was a basic outline–character, conflict, theme,… Read More

I’m the keynote speaker for the upcoming Moonlight & Magnolia conference in Atlanta the first weekend in October. I like writing speeches about as much as I like plotting—which is to say, I’d rather walk over hot coals in bare feet being chased by a pack of hungry, man-eating arachnids. Rocki, of course, thought I was insane two years ago when I told her I wasn’t going to write a speech for the Emerald City conference. For those of you who have had the privilege of hearing Rocki speak, you know she’s an amazing public speaker. She’s poised, polished, professional,… Read More

Stephen King has said that the short story is a lost art. King is the master of the short story; in fact, my favorite King movies originally came from his short stories. (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION was originally “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption; there was also ‘1408’ and ‘The Langoliers’, both of which translated well to film, and others.) But as the magazine market has collapsed and fewer anthologies are published, the short story has become rare. My mom says she doesn’t like short stories and novellas because she doesn’t feel like there is a completely story; other people enjoy… Read More

Rocki’s post on Tuesday asking if there was a double-standard in romance elicited a groundswell of responses from MSW readers. Some of the comments were particularly noteworthy, so I’d suggest if you haven’t read the blog you do so. The primary theme of the blog was whether readers had a double standard in romance vis-a-vis the hero and heroine. That heroines are held to a higher standard than heroes. We forgive heroes for sleeping around, playing the field, having oodles of sexual experience–but if the heroine has more than one or two lovers (and they should be steady lovers, perhaps… Read More

Most of the regular readers of this blog know about how a book becomes a book: a writer writes it and revises it in her own way. Then she submits it to her editor and often (or, in cases like me, every time) does a round of editor revisions. Then the book goes to the editor for line edits, then production for copy edits, then back to the author to review and make changes, then to production for galleys/proofs, then back to the author for a final read/minor changes, then back to production for printing. For more on the process,… Read More