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 …
Tag: writing life
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.
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.
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, …
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 …
Re-Writes
It wasn’t so hard to re-do the first half of the book. The mystery and intrigue plot just needed a little bit of refining. I did need to incorporate the things I’ve learned about police procedure and such over the last fifteen years. But, all in all, tt wasn’t too bad. The relationships needed a little bit of help, but it was okay. I breezed through seventeen chapters in two days (about 8 hours) of writing.
Hours a Day
Starting this week, I will have six hours a day, three days a week that will be focused solely on book writing. The other two days of the work week will be spent blogging on my two blogs. That is giving me 18 hours a week to write – eight more hours a week – of alone writing time. I haven’t spent more than an hour or two alone for years. I am so excited to see what kind of productivity I can accomplish in this designated writing time.
Time to Write
Summer is officially over in our house this week. My daughter begins her first day of 10th grade on Thursday. The following Wednesday, my boys will enter 4K and Kindergarten. I have to say, I’m looking forward to school starting. I had hoped I’d be able to finish my current work in progress this summer, …