The Question Every Writer Asks

Authors know—once you begin writing, there’s no turning back. You’ll never read a book again without noticing stuff like dialogue tags, metaphors, and plot structure. You’ll never meet someone new without, in the back of your mind, filing away certain physical characteristics and mannerisms for future use. You’ll never read printed material without wielding your metaphorical red pencil. And you’ll certainly never observe life around you without asking the question, “What if…?”

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Free Stuff

As writers (at least as writers in the U.S.), we are expected to give away a portion of our product. We give away signed books, ebooks, short stories, novellas, etc.

And I don’t even want to put in writing what someone asked me to give away today. Let’s just say the request that landed in my inbox made me think long and hard about the value of a FREE THING.

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Writing in Multiple Genres: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

You think of me as a mystery writer, right?  But I also write romances. And I’d never read a romance before I accidently wrote one. 

Sounds silly right? When I started writing my first NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli mystery, I thought Corelli’s love interest, Brett Cummings, was a man. But when I was writing the scene where they meet, the Brett who showed up on the page, was a woman. I was shocked. I tried changing her back to the man I intended but once she was on stage, I couldn’t go back.

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