I attended the Magna Cum Murder conference in Muncie, Indiana over the weekend. And, as always, I had a good time.
I like getting away from the computer and meeting the people who read—or hopefully will read—what I write. Faces I’ve come to recognize from across a room whether I’m in Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Kansas, or […]

So I read all the comments last week, and a couple of things struck me.
Keith Snyder’s thoughts on sex playing much the same role as recipes do in crime or mystery novels mirrored my own concern: is it off topic?
But then, do we share a somewhat limited view of what a mystery novel […]

I’ve just added Cynthia’s questions at the bottom of this post. Please take a minute and answer them!
So I’m in New York City with the BEAUTIFUL acclaimed debut novelist, Kristy Kiernan, having an absolutely fabulous time. Spent a lovely bookish evening with GalleyCat’s wonderful Ron Hogan and the always charming Wallace Stroby at Hudson Bar […]

The following may be of interest to those of you who write as well as read, those of you who enjoy reading about the writing/publishing process, and those of you who are just plain nosy.
As someone who’s had an agent and let her go again, I’d say I’ve made some mistakes. Mistakes of the “After […]

When Moving is Murder went out to editors I followed the advice I’d heard over and over, “Don’t just sit there and twiddle your thumbs—get to work on the next book.” It’s supposed to help you not obsess about the book making the rounds. Did it work? Not hardly.
I still obsessed about Moving is […]

There are all sorts of ideas about what makes a book sell—an eye catching cover, great jacket copy, and stellar writing. All good, supportable theories, I’m sure. But every morning I spend three or four hours writing in a café at my local Borders and I know those answers are not enough.
You see, from where […]

I apologize for the tardiness of this blog. I’ve been working on a new project–an erotic mystery–and I got hung up on writing one of the sex scenes.
“Hung up” is probably the right term for it.
Not that I’m a prude or anything. And I don’t think I’m a literary snob exactly. (I write popular fiction, […]

So, yeah, I’m back on the topic of Bouchercon, but only because I can’t think of today’s Virtual Cocktail Party guest without remembering the lovely, lovely time we had in Madison.
Sunday night, after the convention was over and nearly all the exhausted participants had returned home, a small group of us stayed behind. Accidental friends, […]

First, a matter of business. We have a winner in the Care and Feeding of the Ultimate Amazon Two-Dimensional Heidi Quiz. Randomly chosen from the entries received, the winner is my fellow Marylander, Karen Syed. She is the lucky (For goodness’ sake, what will the poor woman do with the thing?) new […]

A week or so ago Karen MacInerney posted at the Cozy Chicks blog on the challenges of teaching writing. This is something I’ve thought a lot about, having worked long and hard to get my monthly Barnes and Noble workshop to where it is today (namely…productive).
We’ve had our share of wacko wannabes–the mother […]