I’m thrilled to introduce romantic suspense author Lena Diaz to Murder She Writes! I’ve known Lena through the Kiss of Death chapter for … years. 🙂 … I love how close the writer community is, especially our romantic suspense chapter. Lena herself was a Navy Brat, moving around the country following her father. Now, she resides in Florida with her husband of more than 20 years. Wow! Please welcome Lena … Readers often ask, “Where do you get your ideas?” Do they come from all those research books sitting on my shelf (see picture above)? Do they come from dreams?… Read More

I had a great idea for this blog, then promptly forgot it. It’s like that tickle in the back of your brain, that you know you know something, but you can’t remember what it is. Like a person’s name. Or an appointment you remembered that you forgot, but you can’t remember any details. So I started a different blog. I was going to write about mean reviewers, the kind who anonymously post bad reviews that are full of snark and personal slights instead of insight into why they didn’t like the book. But then I thought, why give those vipers… Read More

Wake Me Up When It’s All Over By Pamela Callow I must admit, Avicii’s Wake Me Up is my favourite song this week. Not only do I love the upbeat melody, and the raw soul in Aloe Blacc’s voice, but the lyrics resonate with me. The message – that we keep our eyes closed until we are older because we need to believe in our dreams – is one that I think works on so many levels.

Wake Me Up When It’s All Over By Pamela Callow I must admit, Avicii’s Wake Me Up is my favourite song this week. Not only do I love the upbeat melody, and the raw soul in Aloe Blacc’s voice, but the lyrics resonate with me. The message – that we keep our eyes closed until we are older because we need to believe in our dreams – is one that I think works on so many levels.

First off … from Angie Fox’s guest blog last week we have a winner! Anne! Please email me (Allison) with your contact information and which book of Angie’s you want and I’ll forward her the information. Thank you! My mom, who helps me out with Quickbooks and organizing and mailings, is out of town and will be back Wednesday, so all pending giveaways will be mailed later this week. I think there’s only one … Now, many of you may have already heard that Laura Griffin and I indie published a book together. CRASH AND BURN is really two connected… Read More

As every writer knows, our job is hard work. Sitting in the chair every day writing stories that we hope and pray our readers (and our editor!) will love isn’t always easy. Writing itself takes time and practice; it’s part gift and part grit. There are many head-banging moments. There are many ten, twelve, fourteen hour days. I’ve stayed up all night writing; I’ve stared at the computer screen for countless hours not writing. But … I work from home. My hours are flexible. (I can go to my daughter’s soccer practice or take my son on a field trip and make… Read More

This week I’ve been staying up late writing and last night crashed at 9:30 … and totally forgot my blog. It’s one of this “catch up” days which I needed, but inevitable, things fall through the cracks … like remembering this was MY Thursday to post. Thing is … I have nothing to say. I’m going to New Zealand next week to keynote the New Zealand Romance Writers conference (yes, I’m very, very excited!) … I’m also presenting a workshop and doing other things for the conference, so I’ve been planning and preparing and shopping … and my mind isn’t… Read More

First …. we have a winner! Thank you to everyone who commented on Lisa Gardner’s giveaway Tuesday … Random.org picked CRYSTALGB as the winner of the beach bag bonanza! Crystal, I sent you a private email, so make sure you reply! Congratulations! Okay, now for some serious matters. Very serious. I’m talking about television.

I’ve been a fan of Lisa Gardner since I read THE THIRD VICTIM in 2001. THE THIRD VICTIM wasn’t Lisa’s first book, but it was the first book of hers that I read. I became a life-long fan and Lisa Gardner is one of the few authors I consistently buy (in hardcover!) and read. But there’s another reason why THE THIRD VICTIM is close to my heart: it was one of the books that inspired me to write.

Last night I had a headache, so I put my head down for just a few minutes … and woke up hours later. So I apologize for being late with the blog this morning. Trust me. You wouldn’t have wanted me to write it last night at 1 am when I stumbled in from my office to my bed. It would have looked something like this: ;a;o9734jknd aie odf0- dfkl2;j 9OedfmSKJF lh,. I returned from Thrillerfest Sunday night after a fabulous week in New York City. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted — I’d said that this year… Read More