by Susan McBride I was going through old files the other day and dug up notes for a month-long online workshop I taught to 65 aspiring authors a few years back when I was writing my Debutante Dropout series. The topic was “Making Mysteries Memorable.” I focused on choosing your protagonist, casting your secondary characters, […]
by Maryanne Pope If so, be prepared for the pitfalls, plan accordingly for the strikes against you and then figure out how to optimize on the opportunities. Let’s start with the bad news: There is a pre-conceived notion that self-published books are of lesser quality than traditionally published books.And frankly, for good reason…there are some […]
This is going to be a very short post today because at 3:43 pm yesterday, after working day and night for weeks, I finally finished Physical Education, the sixth installment in the Murder 101/Alison Bergeron series. I think my fingers are bleeding. Yes, I have a year to write each book. And yes, I have […]
Here’s hoping for a great year for the Stiletto Gang and their families. I’m not one to make resolutions, but I do have some hopes and desires for the coming year. My granddaughter is getting married on the 15th. This is not my first grandchild to get married, but a very special one. Jessica lived […]
My criteria for a good movie has certainly changed from my angst-y teen years when there was nothing like a good Ingmar Bergman, “let’s examine death twelve different ways” flick, to entertain me and my friends. We were interested in “meaningful” films, although I tended to keep quiet about my secret love for Pollyanna. I […]
by Rachel Brady My friend, author Bekka Black, recently wrote a letter to her teen self, and I thought that looked like some fun, so I’ve jumped aboard. Dear Teen Me, I have more than twice your life experience now. I considered telling you how much smarter you’ll be in twenty years, but the truth […]
It’s my anniversary today. 20 years. Yowza! My mother is a forever fan of my husband because he convinced me (read: ultimatum) to stop smoking (I was a high school/college Virginia Slims smoker…bad girl!). My father is a forever fan of my husband because he sees a bit of himself in my man… namely the […]
Back in August, my mother, daughter, and I visited my sister in Savannah for the weekend. When it was time to leave, our first flight home was cancelled. Our second flight home—the next day—was also cancelled. And so on and so forth until we got a three-connection itinerary that took us to some of the […]
Above is a photo of great-granddaughter Kay’Lee who served as Santa Christmas Eve and passed out the gifts at the Christmas Eve get-together at our house. Mainly it’s my son’s crew, his wife and two sons (Kay’Lee belongs to the youngest)and son’s daughter, but we also have our youngest daughter’s son who lives with us […]
Here are our all time favorite holiday movies. Please share yours. Rhonda – A Christmas Story – Ralphie gets his bb gun and his tongue stuck to a lamp post. What could be better? While You Were Sleeping – Warm family Christmas movie with Sandra Bullock at her best. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Great […]