A lot of writers speak respectfully of their Muse. Me, not so much. I’m not a believer in the concept of the muse when it comes to writing. If I had waited for a muse like Calliope to appear, I would never have written five novels. Plus, on a visceral level, I don’t trust the […]
Friday before a bad weather weekend is the perfect time to go to the library. Boy, am I glad I did! Nothing says gothic literature like a gray ominous sky and Sunday was going to be miserable. I happened on Ruth Ware’s thriller, The Death of Mrs. Westaway and slipped it into my bulging book […]
In the old days, of small villages and smaller market places, if I made clay pots for a living I would know exactly how my neighbors felt about them. Joe the baker would say, “Great container for my onion rolls. Now I need another for the scones.” Or, less pleasant but equally informative, Jane the […]
Early this year I entered my novel, Waiting For You, in the New England Readers Choice Awards competition. It was a little like sending your child off to college. You know you’ve done the best job preparing the kid you can do. The rest will be up to him. So I waited until April. Writing […]
It’s definitely chocolate time in my house tonight! I’m super excited to share my news. A few months ago, I entered my romance novel, Waiting For You in the New England Readers’ Choice contest. Because there are so many entries in the contest, including entries from big publishers, I didn’t expect Waiting For You to […]
I rarely enjoy unreliable narrator stories, but I had no trouble engaging with Kaira Rounda’s thriller, Best Day Ever. Primarily because the book has an exceptionally slow build. So by the time I realized what Rouda was doing, I was already hooked. Here are some things she did which I thought were exceptional. No information […]
Every time I feel confident in my knowledge of this new world of writing, I am reminded how little I know. Which ought to be discouraging, I guess. But instead is oddly reassuring. There is something comforting about knowing there is so much more left to learn, to be secure in one’s own deficiencies of […]
Presenting Volume 1 of the Durrell Brothers Trilogy, Waiting For You. Part of launching a book includes thanking people who helped you write it. As part of that process, I’ve been thinking about the authors I love to learn from and whose teaching help me grow my own writing skills. So this is a book […]
I think a lot of us struggle with impossible standards we set for ourselves. Well at least I do. Which explains this book review of My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella. I’m a fan of books which address this issue. Like Katie Brenner, who is trying to make a success of herself in […]
Even a romance without explicit sex scenes, can still be written for a grownup audience. Which explains today’s book review of Sharon Pywell’s fabulous venture into the genre, The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life. Unlike many romance authors, Pywell read her first romance novel as an adult. Which may be why this novel is written […]