I’m currently reading a book about a less-than-likable protagonist. If I were reading it for pleasure, I would have stopped by now, but I had agreed to review the book. I will plow ahead, hoping the protagonist eventually sees the error of her ways and miraculously develops some much-needed empathy. However, since I’m three-quarters of […]

Usually, I introduce you to writers you might not otherwise know through my blog. This time, I’m going to tell you a personal secret that it often takes authors a few years to realize: a story or idea is never a one and done deal. They can often be recycled in numerous ways. For example, […]

I am often asked about where my ideas for stories come from. Generating ideas has never been a problem. Finding the time to use all of them is usually the issue. Ideas are everywhere, but keeping track of them is also a challenge.  My laptop bag and purse are full of sticky notes of all […]

When you sit down to write a short story, do you have the ending in mind? Or do you let the story unroll and discover where it’s going only when you get there? Endings are my biggest challenge, and I suspect a major challenge for many writers. I have rewritten endings time and again, each […]

My last guest post for Debra’s blog was about being a vagabond writer-one who likes the adventure of taking her characters from town to town or starting over with new stories in new locations. I’ve set stories in towns from the east coast to the west and especially in one place between the two-northeast Tennessee. […]

I recently read a highly rated thriller. It was a page-turner, with action, and cliff-hangers, and more action. Good guys versus bad guys. The bad guys got badder and badder; the hero overcame his biggest fears and vanquished them. Great story, no plot holes, all story questions resolved. Well done, really. And yet, I remember […]

In my 21 years as a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, I discovered a number of things. First, opera can kill you. An opera theatre is the perfect environment for mischief, mayhem, and murder. In opera, what happens away from the stage can be more dramatic than what happens on the stage. […]

April 15 is Tax Day, a day that reminds us, as citizens and as writers, that we owe. Owing something or being in debt to someone-financially, spiritually, practically-seems endemic to the human condition. In this matter, our faith or lack thereof does not seem to matter. As Bob Dylan noted on Slow Train Coming (1979), […]

Stephen King has done it. J.K. Rowling has done it with a pen name. What am I talking about? When an author writes in more than one genre. I don’t consider The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile as horror, and yet, they are probably my two favorite stories by King. Not quite Carrie, Christine, […]

Sidekicks can make or break a story. In a great mystery, the main character’s “helper” is as important as the plot itself. I mean, how else will the heroine find the killer without another viewpoint? This assistant needs to be loyal, supportive under duress, offer inspiration, have unique skills, and never, ever outshine the protagonist, […]