Blog posts : "General"
I’ve been thinking about nasty characters this week, and that’s because I just watched the new Wuthering Heights movie. I love a good period drama, and adore both the actors (Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi) in this film. So even though I remember disliking the book intensely, I deci...
A good book dedication can tell you more about the book and author than the jacket blurb. Dorothy Parker, the renowned wit, had this to say at the front of her book, Here Lies:
To Alan, without whose help this book would have been finished in half the time.
That dedication gives me all the feel...
Does this look like an innocent face?
I assure you, it’s not. This is Koko. She’s my heart cat, the one who sits with me while I write or read. The one who snuggles with me at night. She’s silly, has a big voice and even bigger opinions, and she’s quite literally sc...
This is not the post I wanted to write today. I know I promised in the last newsletter to give the results of the mini-poll and talk about AI, but I will have to postpone that. I have some sad news, and I don’t want to put off telling you about it because I know many of you have been reading my n...
In January, I mentioned that I will be making some changes to my newsletter and my social media feeds. If you don't subscribe to my newsletter, this won't affect you much. If you would like to subscribe, you can join HERE.
The first of the coming changes is that I joined Substack. If you’re n...
Happy end of January! I want to talk about something happened this week while I was writing the first draft for Hallow Crossing (The Fair Folk of Mullarkey, Book 2)—something that got me thinking about this bumpy road I’ve been on since publishing my first book.
I hit a road block in my draft. ...
Welcome to 2026. Wow. That happened fast. December is usually full of looking-back posts as people try to come to terms with another year gone, but the holidays are always busy and I prefer to take stock in January, and look ahead as well as back.
It felt like 2025 flew by as usual. I didn’t ge...
One of my favorite authors and a good friend, Jilleen Dolbeare passed away on October 24th. If you've been getting my newsletters for a while, you probably know Jill. Her books have been featured on the Spotlight books here before.
Jill was a wonderful writer and a fierce ally to indie authors....
Meet the Winged Scruff
Our grass is very confused. After no rain for over a month and winter coming, the meadow had gone brown and dormant. Now, after three days of rain, grass is turning green again, unaware that snow isn’t too far away.
Looking out over our grassy field is a great inspiratio...
Summer seems to be whizzing by as usual. I've been kayaking, hiking, foraging, swimming and writing in my little forest tent. We've had days at the beach and evenings around the campfire. We just hosted a family BBQ weekend for my mother's 80th birthday. It was terrific to have most of the family...
Do you highlight favorite quotes when you read ebooks?
Did you know that Amazon favors books that have multiple highlights from readers? No one knows the secret Amazon algorithm recipe, but these highlights will eventually show up on a book's Amazon sale's page. Also, other readers can see when ...
It’s official: I have a rough draft of Mech and Magic, The Knack Series Book 2! Woohoo! Like the first book, this one took a lot out of me. There are many moving parts, a lot of characters and a deep dive into world building. Also, like book 1 at this point, the first draft is a hot mess. Luckil...
This week’s newsletter is a day late because I wanted you to take advantage of the Urban Fantasy Free For All that is happening right now. 100+ books all free for today only, including my Valkyrie Bestiary Series Starter, Dragons Don't Eat Meat. Click on the banner above to fill your e-reader!
W...
The New Year is a great time to look forward, but to do that, I feel it’s also important to look back at what I accomplished. 2024 was a big year for me, with the publication of 2 novels and 1 novella. I finished the Valkyrie Bestiary Series, something that I’d been working on for nearly 10 years...
Fall has hit us with some spectacular colors and weather. It’s been nice enough for me to continue to spend time in the forest while I edit A Knack for Metal and Bone. I officially sent it off to my editor for first looks this week. If all goes well, I’ll have a release date and pre-order informa...
This is a visual representation of how edits are going on A Knack for Metal and Bone. I was sailing along, expecting to have a competed draft by next week and then I hit this roadblock. This isn't to say that I have writer's block. Rather, it means that I hit an unexpected wall in my plot and for...
This is me riding Booker for my second lesson after not riding for nearly 12 years. I have rediscovered muscles I didn’t know I have.
You can see in this picture I am wearing half-chaps. These are leather protectors for the bottom half of your leg. I used to wear these back in the day, but...
I often get asked questions such as “Do you still get paid if I read your books on Kindle Unlimited (or from the library or ‘insert other format here’).” In general, my answer is, “If you read my books, I’m ecstatic however you got them. Thank you.” There are two caveats to that. The first is boo...
Happy New Year! I hope you had a fun and safe holiday season. I traveled a bit to see family, snuggled with the grand babies and had some girl time with both my mother and my daughter. It was a perfect holiday, until I came home sick. Not Covid, luckily, but a bad head cold. It's the price you pa...
Unicorns Don't Cry, (Valkyrie Bestiary Book 8) brought a whole new menagerie of critters for Kyra. There's the conies, feisty little rabbits; Ludger the Puckwudgie, who is more than he seems; Chug, the abused unicorn who wants to feel pretty again; and the little whatsis sunflower. Which one ...
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