by Linda Rodriguez I’ve been around for a lot more than a few years. And, stubborn as I can be, I’ve learned some things along the way. Oddly enough, it’s not the big lessons that have made a difference in my life, but a series of small rules for happy living that I’ve learned to […]
by Linda Rodriguez My late first husband, who died fourteen years ago, still receives mail at my house—though we were divorced for fifteen years before he died. If he were alive, he would be old enough for Medicare. Suddenly, missives from various insurance providers (almost none with identification of the firm involved) are hitting my […]
by Linda Rodriguez Hi! My name is Linda, and I am a bookworm. I’m the kid who constantly heard “Get your nose out of that book!” and “You’re deaf, dumb, and blind when you’ve got your nose in a book!” I was the kid who carried extra books to school beyond all the heavy required […]
by Linda Rodriguez This photo sums up how I’ve been feeling lately. It’s an internet meme that’s really all about the political chaos and turmoil we’re all facing every day in 2017—or so it definitely feels. And while it’s absolutely appropriate for that part of my life and everyone else’s right now, unfortunately it fits […]
by Linda Rodriguez Like many people, I wake in the morning dreading the new horrors the day will bring us from Washington, DC. Last week, I actually had to go to DC for a conference, and while there, I picked up some nasty respiratory bug. So I’m home now, in pain, exhausted, and weak from […]
by Linda Rodriguez When a group of writers decided on Twitter to put together an anthology to benefit our friend Sabrina Ogden and the Lupus Foundation, I was in on it from the start. After all, I love Sabrina, and I deal with lupus every day myself. So we called it Feeding Kate since Kate […]
by Linda Rodriguez On April 27th at the 71st annual Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City, The Stiletto Gang’s own Dru Ann Love will receive the prestigious Raven Award. The Raven Award is a special award given for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. This award was first […]
by Linda Rodriguez It’s that time at the beginning of a new year when people make resolutions for self-improvement. Writers often make resolutions to find time to write. I posted a blog about that recently here. https://www.thestilettogang.com/2016/12/book-excerpt-to-find-time-to-write-your.html Even when this resolution is successful and the writer creates a workable writing schedule, such a resolution often […]
by Linda Rodriguez It’s 10 days until Christmas—days when people are shopping and buying presents to give to people who don’t really need any more stuff to cram into their overcrowded homes. I have informed my family that I absolutely forbid them to give me any stuff this Christmas. It’s not that I’ve turned into […]
by Linda Rodriguez This is an excerpt from my new book on writing, Plotting the Character-Driven Novel. https://www.amazon.com/Plotting-Character-driven-Novel-Linda-Rodriguez/dp/097912915X I wanted to give you a taste of what it’s like. As I explain on the very first page: “Writing a novel requires several things—time, motivation, the willingness to keep learning the craft of fiction, and an […]