Lois Winston Dishes on Character!

I am a huge Lois Winston fan! Not only do I love her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, but I learn so much from everything she has to say about the art and craft of fiction writing. Below she talks about the intersection of plot and character, and the key questions we need to ask…

Read More

Great Marketing Advice from Mystery Author Heather Weidner

So many authors have shared with me that they’ve found marketing and promoting their novels to be even more challenging than writing them! Heather Weidner offers some terrific advice for generating material for blogs and social media sites:  Put Your Book Content to Good Use By Heather Weidner Marketing and promotions are a part of…

Read More

Excited (and Nervous!) About the Writing Year Ahead

Recently, my award-winning author friend Marilyn Levinson announced she had not one but eight books coming out that year. I was astonished and incredibly impressed! I knew my prolific friend wrote both for young people and adults, but eight books? She explained that several had gone out of print and were being republished—but still! I…

Read More

Post-Holiday Gratitude

Driving home from the airport after dropping off our NYC grandchildren and their parents, I felt so sad that they had departed, and our Christmas visit was over. And then I reminded myself how lucky I was to feel that way! Advice columns are full of counsel on how to deal with difficult relatives during…

Read More

“Thankfuls” and “Unthankfuls”

When my children were young, we used to pass a candle on Sunday nights and take turns saying what we were thankful for. On one of those occasions, our younger son announced, “Let me just start with my unthankfuls.” So, I’ll follow suit. I am unthankful for the current administration which has, within less than…

Read More