The Road to Publication

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment the paradigm shift occurred.  The transition from traditionally published author to an independent one marked the beginning of the change. When my first book…

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The Voices in my Head

What captures you more—a thrilling plot or a fascinating character? The impetuous Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing Rhett Butler, or the Civil War? A good story makes us care about…

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Pontificating with Purple Prose

  If there’s a passage I’m overly proud of—it usually means I need to cut it. There is a big difference between a well-crafted sentence relevant to the story, and…

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Villains – the New Heroes?

  I love my bad guys. They are the most fun to write—their evil deeds flow effortlessly from my imagination. They are malicious, devious, merciless, and sadistic. But If I’m…

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What Makes Thriller Writers Tick

  “What’s the best way to assassinate someone and make it look like an accident?” “How about poisons—which are undetectable in an autopsy?” In most circles, these types of questions…

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Show, Don't Tell

  A familiar axiom of writing is “show, don’t tell”.  We hear it everywhere: from teachers, in articles, in writing workshops. For a long time, I had no idea what…

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