Just in time for Valentine’s Day: ROMANCE WORTH KILLING FOR, a blogging collaboration by three romantic suspense authors, Elisabeth Naughton, Joan Swan and Linda Winfree.

All writing-related topics, all the time. With 8 collective years of serious writing between us, the subjects will range from back-to-basics grammar and GMC, through the submission process, obtaining an agent and beyond. Posts scheduled Mon/Wed/Fri with surprises planned in between, so check back often.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be posting here with my usual rants about writing, the Gremlins and life in general. But egad! I’m scheduled to post first over … Read more »

Did that get your attention?

I came across this great article today while doing research. No, it wasn’t that kind of research, but I still managed to stumble across this. It’s interesting (um, to say the least).

Anyone who’s ever written a love scene knows it’s the hardest scene in the world to write (no pun intended there). You gotta keep it fresh, new, exciting, and you have to figure out a way to say the same thing without repeating yourself in the last scene you wrote. The following article might just stimulate your mind and give you some interesting … Read more »

… Read more »

I am the kind of writer who has to write every day in order to stay ‘in’ my character’s heads, to keep my muse flowing. Any change to that schedule can put a big damper on my flow. And unfortunately, that’s the problem I’m dealing with right now.

With lofty goals to finish the WIP in 3 months, I am now looking at the thing thinking, ‘what the heck was I thinking?’ Due to some strange twist in the space-time continuum which I will never understand, I find myself (suprisingly) at the end of that three month mark and only … Read more »

It’s Tuesday, and I just got home from the gym. I’m pooped, and the brain isn’t quite firing on all cylinders yet.

Must. Have. Coffee.

So, since I have nothing new to add today, I’m going to redirect you to some people who have lots of interesting things to say.

CAROL‘s feeling chatty, and her brand new baby is adorable. Check him out. TERI‘s singing the praises of the Seahawks (Are they really in the Superbowl? Wow . . . I just so don’t even follow pro sports.) and sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear from … Read more »

…for like an hour. There was blue sky. And sun. And LIGHT. And the world seemed right.

And then the clouds came. And the sky grew dark. And the rain returned once more.

*sigh*

But there was that one moment of clarity…… Read more »

That’s me. The Handout Queen.

I presented tonight at my local RWA meeting. The topic was online critiquing. We had a good turn out, and I think (hope) everyone had a good time and learned something valuable. Attendees received handouts on how to set up and use Word to make writing easier, and comma handouts and descriptive word-lists from uber-English teacher CP. They also got to hear all about my wonderful critique partners….how we met and how they put up with me day after day.

It was good. And it kinda made me miss my teaching days.

Kinda. … Read more »

(…because the three-year-old Gremlin has been oh-so close now that he’s not getting TV for a while.)

At the gas station:
The attendant takes my credit card, asks, “How much would you like, ma’am?”
Bryce laughs and snorts from the backseat. “He called you ma’am! Doesn’t he know your name is Mom! He’s so dumb.”

At church:
The priest says, “…through Christ our Lord, Amen.”
His head darts up from whatever mischief he was planning at that moment. “Hey. He just said through Bryce our Lord, Amen.” A twisted smile whips across his little face.

At the dentist:
The dentist … Read more »

Winter sucks.

It has rained here 23 out of the last 24 days. Can you say, dark and dreary? Ugh. The ten-day forecast shows … what do you think?….more rain. Every stinkin’ day. No wonder my characters frolic in warm tropical locals like Tahiti and Jamaica. Heck, I even sent one lovely couple to Chicago in the winter. I figure sun and snow has GOT to be better than this liquid sunshine we have here.

On the homefront…the Gremlins are all sick. Every last one of them. Fevers, coughs, generally ickiness. They’re whiney, clingy messes without tylenol, bouncing off the … Read more »

I get the worst mother of the year award.

Gremlin #1 (she’s 6) lost tooth #5 yesterday. Actually, she pulled it out herself, which I find very strange, but that’s a whole other topic. She was quite excited, stuck the tooth in a plastic baggie and slipped it under her pillow. In my mother-stupidity, however, I forgot about the blessed event when I went to bed last night. Needless to say, she awoke this morning very upset to learn the tooth fairy had not visited and that her tooth was still under her pillow.

I’m wracked with guilt.

Dumfounded, DH … Read more »