In anticipation of a back surgery that I had a week ago, I asked my newsletter subscribers to send me some questions last month so I could do an Ask …
The Spirits of Route 66
Since my blog post was due around Halloween, I pondered what I could write that was Halloween related. Then I remembered—I wrote a book of ghost stories! How could I …
Where Do You Come Up With Your Story Ideas?
I just turned in the ninth Countess of Harleigh mystery to my publisher earlier this month and since it’s the last book in the contract, I am at that weird …
How Much is too Much?
It seems like A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder just released—well it was only three weeks ago—but I am just polishing up the next book which is due August …
An Author’s Work is Never Done
You might be surprised to learn that I have many tasks that are aspects of my work but have nothing to do with writing books. I’m between drafts of book …
Fiction as an Escape
The busier I get, the more tasks I give to Frances. That seems fair, doesn’t it? She’s a character whose life I create. If I’m juggling a dozen tasks at …
Research: Rabbit Hole or Hamster Wheel?
I hear so often about that research rabbit hole and I admit I have fallen in myself, usually when reading old newspapers. I’ll find so many fascinating stories, yet not …
Brain Matters
I turned in book 7 to my editor a couple weeks ago and I’ve been playing with ideas for the next book in the series. No matter how many books …
Casting My Characters
I never feel that I know my characters very well until I finish the first draft of a manuscript. That’s one of the great things about writing a series. Characters …
Research Trip!
By the time A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder came out in 2018, I had already done enough research to plot three books. At the time, I didn’t know …