Category: Writing Life

My Writing Goals for the Year (And How I’m Already Behind!)

Happy New Year, friends! Welcome to 2026 – with an exciting, blank slate in front of us! Here are my writing goals this year: Write and Publish: Flames of Suspicion (February, I hope) Flames of Hope (April) Flames of Justice (June) Those will be books 5-7 in the Red Blood & Bluegrass series. Threads of Deception (maybe …

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Talk About Frustrating!

September 1st marked my “I’m back to being a full-time writer” phase of life.  What made it fun is that I had two major conferences – American Christian Fiction Writers and Novelists, Inc., almost immediately. In fact, this week has been my first week home for the entire week since it all began! As you …

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Refreshed, Reset, and Fri-YAY

Happy Fri-YAY! I’m fresh back from my annual spring writer’s retreat. I joined Susan May Warren, Lacy Williams, Misty Beller, Robin Patchen, and Tracy Higley for four-and-a-half wonderful days of talking, praying, crying, laughing, more laughing, plotting books, and talking strategy. We went over things that worked last year (obviously, I didn’t get to take …

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The Tools We Writers Use 😂

I am a very visual person. Whenever I write a scene, I have to see a picture of it. If I put a character in a house, then I find the house I want them in online and do a virtual walk-through so that I can see each room and be able to translate what …

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Pinkalicious, Head Injuries, Romance Writers & Teen Drivers

This week has gone by SO FAST. I cannot believe that a week ago, I was preparing breakfast for the crew who came to my daughter Kaylee’s Sweet 16 party.

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Mailing Tips

I sell a lot of autographed books through the mail — especially over the Christmas holiday.  When I first started selling them, I tried to figure the best way to do it, the best way that would keep me from having to run to the post office every-other day.

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Stylin’ White Board

So, I took a roll of wrapping paper, turned it so that the white bottom was out, wrapped the inside of the picture frame, then put it all back together and wah-lah! A moderately non-tacky white board!

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Writing in Layers

I have found over the years that I tend to write in layers. I have all of these action scenes in my head that drive the story, and I have to get to each one of them. So, I write action — “She walks into the room, does this action thing that drives the story, …

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At the Library!

I’d heard that it was difficult to get books at the library.  There are steps you take – something with newspaper stories, etc., before they’d consider you.  I’ve been so busy learning everything else about the writing/publishing world that I just tabled the whole library thing to concentrate on another time. Then, a couple of …

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Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are my quiet mornings.  Gregg and Kaylee typically sleep in – they’re the sleepers of the family.  The boys don’t really sleep in (5:30 this morning), but once they’re up and I feed them (the only morning of the week I give them cold cereal), I put in a full length feature film …

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