The Intimate Moment

Some of the best fiction explores moments of intimacy and shows us relationships between people that are chilling as a result of that intimacy.

In no particular order, here are my favorite thrillers featuring two people locked in a struggle where love, hate, possession and obsession blur.

Read more

New Year's Resolutions

2018 is fast approaching. Now is the time to take stock of 2017 and figure out what to do better next year. In addition to my annual, post-holiday binge pledge to reduce my consumption in a variety of ways, I also hope to be gentler with my family and myself in 2018. Slower to anger. Kinder. More patient.  I asked the MissDemeanors for their resolutions. This is what they said.  Michele Dorsey: To practice forgiveness and remember it is a gift you give yourself. D.A. Bartley: To err on the side of kindness. May 2018 be a year of compassion and peace. Robin Stuart: Breathe. Literally. Just pause each afternoon for 5-10 minutes to focus only on breathing to quiet the noise, reflect, re-center. Paula Munier: Ritualize my life. Starting with my morning routine: Instead of stumbling around the house and the Internet until the caffeine kicks in, I’m going to establish a more productive and inspiring way to begin my day: tea, yoga, walk the dog. I’ve got the electric tea pot and the yoga dice and the dog, so all I need now is a little good karma. Alexia Gordon: I resolve to choose a one-a-day or one-a-week challenge (e.g. a stitch a day, a book a week, a letter a week, a journal entry a day) and stick to it for the entire year, be more disciplined about my writing and write every day (no excuses), even if it’s only 100 words, and send out a monthly newsletter. I also resolve to do one new thing, just for fun and personal enrichment. Susan Breen: This year my resolution is to read the Bible from start to finish. I got one of those 15-minute-a-day Bibles and I’ve done a fairly good job, though I seem to be mired in November. Beyond the religious reasons, I just love all the stories and words. (I’m reading the King James version.) I’ve also found some incredible titles. Tracee de Hahn: These have all been so wonderful! I was thinking of being more healthful- but I think it’s more along the lines of what Alexia and Paula are suggesting- more purposeful. Which spills over into healthy start to the day, and improving habits in general (including the ones that are about writing). What’s your resolution?   

Read more

Reviews: To Read or Not To Read

My third thriller, Lies She Told, launched Sept. 12 and the reviews have been coming in fast and furious. Last I checked, there are about forty-five on Amazon and 470 reviews/ratings on GoodReads. There are also reviews on Instagram, which I am learning about and just started obsessing over.  And I am reading all of them.  Why? The true artist might ask. The book can’t be changed now. As long as I feel good about my work, what does it matter what other people think?  There are a couple reasons that I read nearly all my reviews. The first is that, like any insecure creative, I must know what people are saying about my brainchild and, by extension, me. I’m as bad as any high school girl with a new haircut. I’ll pretend that it doesn’t matter if the popular kids think my bangs are cute because I like them, but I desperately want the validation.  The far more important, non-ego-centric reason that I read reviews is because they are the second part of the conversation that I initiated with my imagined readers when I started writing my latest novel. I told a tale intending for particular themes to emerge and for my characters to resonate in certain ways. I put in twists and turns that I crafted to be believable red herrings. I aspired, above all, to entertain. Now the readers get to react. I have to listen to their interpretation of the story. I need to know what I succeeded in communicating and where I might have fallen short.  Crossing my fingers that I’m in for a good conversation. Do you read reviews?   

Read more