My mother and I don’t always see eye to eye, but the one thing we always have agreed on are romance novels. We absolutely love them. One of my main memories as a child was going to the library with my mother every Sunday, where she’d exchange her stack of hardcover romances for a new [Continue reading]
As most readers know by now, my May 2009 release, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, features an unusual hero. Ian Mackenzie has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is considered to be high-functioning autism. Traits include the inability to make eye contact, trouble with nonverbal cues and subtext, obsession with detail (but missing the “big [Continue reading]
A reader commented that after finishing one of my books, she started looking at people differently. Started noticing that many people reminded her of certain animals. And then she had fun guessing what type of shape-shifter they might be. So let me back up for a moment. My Victorian fantasy romance series, The Relics Of [Continue reading]
It’s amazing how much emotional power can be packed into song lyrics. I admire anyone who is a good songwriter, creating a story out of a few short lines. I like to incorporate music into my stories to show a character’s feelings or to set a mood. Though I’m careful not to venture into copyright [Continue reading]
Books I read this week, all good for me: Buy Your Copy todayOrder Your Copy todayPre-order Your Copy today This week it seems everyone’s been talking about “series” or “trilogies” or “quartets” or something implying a bunch of books all taking place in a world created by an author. Not necessarily one in [Continue reading]
On Tuesday I let my emotions get the best of me and stormed out of my job in the direct vision of my boss, and quite possibly other employees. Did I care? No, not really. Was I thinking sanely? More than likely I wasn’t. What did I do next? What any self respecting woman/bookaholic might [Continue reading]
People often ask writers where they get their ideas. Many can answer about how a particular incident or thought popped into their head and they were able to create an entire book from that. With the first three books I wrote, before I sold, the idea always started with a comment in my head. A [Continue reading]
When I received my author copies for my latest Spice release, Cleopatra’s Perfume, I re-read it all over again from beginning to end, reliving the heroine’s sexual obsessions and romantic interludes with the men in her life, the angst and horror of World War II when she becomes a spy for the British Foreign Service [Continue reading]
One year at the RWA National Conference, I had coffee with an editor (not my editor) who told me that if you read an author’s books closely, you’ll be able to see that all of her heroes will share some common characteristics. Maybe it’s a core value or just their sense of humor, but it’s [Continue reading]
The great American author, Edna St. Vincent Millay, once wrote that she couldn’t get the woman onto the porch. What she meant, of course, was that she couldn’t figure out an organically sound reason for the character to do as the plot demanded.I struggle with this situation all the time. Plotting a mystery is, for [Continue reading]
