Tonight, one of the most prestigious contests for writers of romantic fiction, The RITA, has just come to its conclusion; the winners have been announced and the prizes have been awarded. With the coming year end too fast approaching (as always), for some of us the time is right to begin planning for 2016 and our […]
Linton Robinson’s Latest
Linton Robinson has a writing style like no other. From the first of his books I had the pleasure to read, Sweet Spot, to one of his most recent, Boneyard 11, I have been enthralled by his humor, caustic wit, sarcasm, insights and social […]
Civility in the Age of Rage
When I first started writing This Can’t Be Love, my focus was exclusively on the relationship between Mike Argent and Jakki Hunter. Once the antagonist, Gavin Andrews, hit the stage, one of the ideas driving my characterization of the ‘bad guy’ was his arrogance and his presumption that he could do whatever he liked, with impunity, because […]
What’s Law Got to Do with It?
We have a love/hate relationship with the law. We must have rules to build a society. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives us the story of lost boys forming their own laws in an imperfect society to control their fear and desperation, a social order based on the example set by their experience of […]
Don’t Blame the Pilgrims – Repost
Since writing this article, I have had the opportunity to read more about the War Between the States. I now caution anyone setting a work of fiction during this period to research both sides of this tragic conflict. This post was written a few days before it was scheduled to appear. The fourth blessing mentioned below made […]
Our Words, Our Thoughts, Our Stories
A few months ago, I mentioned to a fellow member of a writers’ group that I was working on a post-Civil War manuscript. Her immediate comment was “You’d better be on the right side of that conflict.” My immediate reaction was a silent grimace, and a sense of foreboding. As an amateur historian with a bias […]
How ‘This Can’t Be Love’ Happened
What can I say about my own most recent novel? I loved writing it and the hero, Mike Argent, is now my favorite grumpy construction worker. I first entertained the idea of writing a novel set during the Fringe when I was part of a small group of Welsh theater folk performing a Jeeves and […]
New Release: January 29, 2015
I am proud to announce the publication of my fourth novel, This Can’t Be Love, set in Edinburgh during the summer Fringe Festival. What happens in Edinburgh, stays in Edinburgh — if Mike Argent has anything to say about it. Not every woman drops into Mike Argent’s life the way Jakki Hunter has, at his […]
What’s So Great About Teachers? — Repost
This post first appeared a few months after the publication of my debut Romance, Wait a Lonely Lifetime. For those of us who are perpetual students, love researching for our books and lectures, the people who inspired us to love learning are the real heroes. September 23, 2012 Students of all ages started back to school […]
Never Put in Writing – Repost
Every year that goes by since I first wrote this, I am more certain that the quotation that opens this post is increasingly important to remember. August 23, 2012 “Never put in writing anything you don’t want people to read.” V.V.Verrill (1913-2005) That is not the only quotation from my mother indelibly enscribed onto my […]