Every time I turn on streaming television, I’m floored by the multitude of true-crime series. There are networks entirely devoted to the genre. But looking more closely, we find that the most fascinating shows, the ones that are viewed the most, are the ones about murder. People commit all kinds of crimes, but who wants […]
Read More… from A Walk on the Dark Side: Our Fascination with True Crime
It’s so easy to type in a phrase for a personality disorder (PD), such as narcissistic personality disorder [one of the more popular ones] and hit ‘enter.’ Then sit back and read whatever pops up at the top of the search engine. After 5 minutes of scanning online, look around for likely candidates for the […]
Two people found fatally shot… The unfriendliest states in America, ranked… Man live-streams vicious beating of girlfriend… I went online today and immediately got hit with these three headlines. If you’re as tired as I am of the ongoing, 24/7, bad news, then you, like me, desperately need to see the good in people. Guess […]
An interviewer asked, “why do you put romance in your thrillers?” to which I said instantly, what’s a good thriller without a touch of romance? Let’s face it, life can be difficult and even scary at times. What keeps us grounded is relationships: family, friends, and yes, a little romance. The other night, I had […]
What if you carefully curated what you thought was the perfect life? And then discovered that someone was watching you all along, someone envious, someone with twisted, evil intentions? With a chill traveling down my spine, I began writing Free Fall with this question in mind, realizing it’s the thing no one thinks about until […]
Writing my new novella, Unlikely Beginning, was super fun and definitely inspired by – let’s face it – the unlikely event of a global pandemic! No one saw it coming, except for Bill Gates, who warned us five years ago. In March, the only thing on my mind was publishing my first novel. In July, […]
I recently joined a book club discussion for Unlikely Return. It was a ton of fun. The members of the group tossed questions my way and one of them really caught my attention. Q: Why do characters do things that seem illogical? Since I write relationship-driven stories, my characters make decisions and act in ways […]
I once read an interview with prolific, bestselling author Daniel Pink. He said people often ask him how he decides what to write next. His answer, in a nutshell: when an idea for a book comes to me, I try to forget it. If I can’t forget it, I know that’s the thing I must […]
Writing a novel is no more or less than putting on paper—let’s make that electronic format instead of paper—strings of stories. There’s the overarching story of the beginning, middle, and end of the entire book. Inside of that, there are multiple small stories that contribute to the big one. I love stories. I love hearing […]
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao-Tzu My journey to write and publish Unlikely Return started in January 2018 with a long run-on “what if” question. I truly cannot believe it’s been two and a half years! A baby only takes nine months, for goodness sakes. Moment of vulnerability: […]