Impact, Impacted, Impactful Oh My!

We’re writers. We love words. We spend hours looking for the exact word to carry the meaning of our crafted sentence. Not true of media journalists! They don’t know the meaning of affect or effect so they have taken a noun, impact, and tortured it into THE word of choice to fit the subtly of […]

Continue Reading

Guest Blog: Sandra Carey Cody: What About the Victim?

My guest this weekend is Sandra Carey Cody, mystery writer and Missourian. She is the author of the Jennie Connor mysteries, published by Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group. These include Love and Not Destory,  Left at Oz, Put Out the Light, Consider the Lilly and By Whose Hand.       […]

Continue Reading

Freedom of Speech & the Tyranny of Cyber Opinion

When I was a young writer, my mother gave me good advice: “Never put in writing what you don’t want people to read.” Now that I am employed in a law office, that advice is reinforced on a daily basis. Every word must be scrutinized with the matters of law and interpretation firmly in mind. […]

Continue Reading

Review: The Killer Angels

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara My rating: 5 of 5 stars If there is a lesson to be learned from any war it must be that no side is entirely right and no side is entirely wrong. Michael Shaara succeeds in making this abundantly clear in his novel about the battle of Gettysburg. Although […]

Continue Reading

Salsa 2nd Edition for Snippet Sunday

The 2nd edition of Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls will be released today as a single book with revisions and a new cover. Below is one of my favorite scenes from the book. Chapter 18 Miguel napped. The music was sensuous and evocative. Emily felt its power to inspire physical response but David was still reluctant […]

Continue Reading

Meet the Author at Avalon

Rebecca Boschee’s interview with me has now been posted at Avalon Authors’ Blogspot. Hope you enjoy it. Rebecca asked some thought-provoking and searching questions. You may comment at the Avalon Authors’ blog or here. I will respond. Thank you.

Continue Reading

Where is Sonya now?

Avalon Authors’ Online Novel continues with a chapter to get the heroine out of rain-soaked Seattle. On a promise from Stan, she finds a bit of sun. Read the next (my) installment at: Avalon Authors’ Online Novel: Along for the Ride.

Continue Reading

Wait a Lonely Lifetime: Excerpt from Chapter One

Sylviana met her friend’s steadfast stare for a long, dry moment. “So, you think he’s dead.” “Sylvi, it’s been fifteen years. That’s what happens to lots of soldiers.” Sylviana looked over the balcony of the restaurant onto Ghirardelli Square . “How did you know? I mean, how did you find out what happened, what Eric […]

Continue Reading

Title Search: RePost from Avalon Authors Blog

Forget blurbs. Forget synopses. Forget even writing a novel or composing the jacket cover biography. The hardest job is finding a title. You’ve written a book to be proud of. You’ve put years of experience, months of work, weeks of revision, days of anticipation into the masterpiece. What keeps you awake night after night? The […]

Continue Reading