Recently, a couple of friends made the same comment to me: “I have no idea how you do all you do.” I suppose for someone long past retirement age, my life is pretty full. Mostly, I write novels. But I also work with a wonderful teenage creative writing student at the Louisville Academy of Fine…
For those of you who are writers, do you ever have moments where you panic and think, “I don’t know where to go next? I’m totally stuck.” Some writers talk about feeling that way in the “muddled middle.” But I can have one of my stalled episodes at any point. Recently, I had one as…
Years ago, I remember reading an anecdote in Writer’s Digest that had me laughing and nodding my head at the same time. A writer discovered that her dentist husband was having an affair with his office assistant. Her first thought? “Wow. This is material!” I can relate. Not only do none of us get out…
As an older avid reader, I can’t resist mysteries featuring senior sleuths, and Kass Lamb has a brand new series featuring one. As she celebrates the release of the first book in the series, TROUBLED WATER, Kass reflects on her decision to write about a character in her seventies. Write What You Know ~…
I love that one of Syrl Kazlo’s main characters in her long-running Samantha Davies mystery series is a lively dachshund named Porkchop! Below is my conversation with Syrl about her cozy mystery series: When I first interviewed you, you’d just released your first book in your Samantha Davies mystery series, KIBBLES AND DEATH. Now here…
I’m so delighted to welcome Linda Rawlins to my blog today. Her 40 years as a physician has given her a wealth of stories and insights that she has drawn upon to write compelling mysteries. First off, congratulations on the release this past year of MISTY MIDWAY, the seventh book in your Misty Point Mystery…
As any writer can tell you, the writing life has its share of lows as well as highs. I’ve yet to meet a writer who hasn’t experienced rejection or hurtful remarks about their work. One of my more discouraging moments came years ago when I was thinking about applying to the journalism program at the…
Because marketing and promoting our books has become largely our responsibility as authors, we spend a fair among of time doing what we call “BSP,” otherwise known as “blatant self-promotion.” But today, I want to promote something much larger than myself, which is our amazing professional organization for mystery writers, Sisters in Crime. Founded in…
On Wednesday night, Joyous Singers, our senior chorus, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a minor league baseball game in our city. It was a scorchingly hot evening, but I thought we sang well, and it was fun to dip into a whole other slice of life in our community. As a kid and later the…
The other day, I was reading an interview of an author who confessed that she becomes anxious and a bit irritable when she’s not writing. I can relate. It’s not that I haven’t been writing for the past few weeks, but I’ve focused on guest blogs and articles in connection with my recent releases of…