Books… All About That Pace 28 Jan 201528 Jan 2015 Let's talk about pacing, i.e. the action in your novel. Does it start slow and build to an action-packed climax? Do you hit on your main themes in a regular…
Books My new book is out! 6 Oct 2014 This is a proud moment for me seeing the first three Lexy books under one cover. Also new: this one released in eBook and paperback simultaneously. The book is a…
Books Free Books! 3 Sep 2014 In honor of the return to school, the first Lexy Cooper mystery is free this week. Download the Schooled eBook through September 6 for the price of sunshine! Here's what…
Books… Bringing out your dead: When to drop the first body. 12 Aug 2014 Conventional wisdom dictates that mystery/crime novels offer up a body early on. Think about every episode of every incarnation of Law & Order. There's the discovery of the victim, then…
Books… Course Correction – When a work-in-progress isn’t working 17 Jun 201417 Jun 2014 Last week I wrote a long post lamenting the shitty state of my new novel Summer Wind. If you want to read the whole boohoo thing it's here. The short…
Books… The Art of the Cover – Griefed 15 Jan 2014 It's sort of a funny story--now--but at the time it stressed me out so much I was losing sleep over it. My cover artist was missing. I found Brett Parson…
Writing Playing with fire: Naming characters after real people 19 Dec 2013 I'm not talking about using real people in fiction. We all do it, but we are at least smart enough to change the names and details enough to avoid lawsuits.…
Books… Why is this book taking so long to write? 3 Dec 2013 My first novel, The Sleepless Nanny, took nine months to write. It wasn't a long book, or particularly complex. I wrote it for one hour each night, most of the…
Books… Things my proofreader taught me 19 Jul 201319 Jul 2013 I'm a professional writer. By that I mean that since 1995 I have made my living--paid my rent, fed my offspring--by writing. You'd think I'd have words pretty much figured…
Books… A Deep Breath — Moving on to the Next Book 28 Jun 2013 I began writing the first Lexy Cooper crime novel Schooled on May 3 2012 and finished the first week of August. It came out on November 6. I started noodling…
Trixieland 