My mom passed away last week after a long battle with dementia. As I sat by her bed and held her hand, I was filled with an overwhelming sadness. Sad, not just because she was dying but for the life she could have lived. See, my mom adored my father. They were soulmates. When he […]
Read More →Next week, I’m heading west to attend the Romance Writers of America National Conference in Denver, Colorado. This year’s theme is Rethink, Revitalize, Renew – particularly appropriate as I start my reset this month. I’m looking forward to spending time with my writing tribe, drinking margaritas, talking about the state of the industry, drinking margaritas, […]
Read More →This week marks the second half of 2018, so I’m hitting the reset button. I know — I’ve said that before — but this time I really mean it. Largely because the first half of 2018 sucked. If I want the second half of the year to be better, I need to do some serious […]
Read More →I been thinking a lot about depression these days. Partly because the sad ends of because of the sad ends of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain shined a spotlight on the topic and partly because Leslie Kelly and I are giving a talk on Battling Writing Demons at RWA2018 in Denver. As a result, my […]
Read More →‘Tis a duty to write beautiful stories…..” For a long time, I had that quote pasted in a inspiration book that I kept on my desk. Sadly, I’ve since lost that notebook, and can no longer remember the rest of the quote or who said it. I think it was Margaret Brownley. No matter, the words, […]
Read More →Okay, so maybe not the dark side, but I am returning to Twitter after nearly a nine month absence. I left Twitter last fall because the politics and general toxicity of the platform became too much to handle. With very few exceptions, there are no shades of gray in the Twitterverse. Everything is black and […]
Read More →Dear Readers: I could use your feedback. I’ve got an important question at the bottom of the post. At my non-writing job, we’re expected to ask every customer for an email address because email marketing is the future, and because I like staying employed, I do so. Every once in a while, though, I […]
Read More →I have discovered the antidote to feeling inadequate, and it is the Bell Curve. For those of you lucky enough to never have to sit through Probabilities and Statistics, the bell curve is a visual representation of data where the line peaks in the middle and then slopes toward each end. Like a mountain. What […]
Read More →I’m sorry. When I published The Suburbs Have Secrets in September, my intention was to immediately write the sequel so that you all could read it this spring. My carefully laid plans had me fast drafting the book during October and November – right before I broke to work on my next contracted Harlequin Romance I […]
Read More →(Sunday night, 8:42 PM) Revisions are due for THEIR CHRISTMAS MIRACLE at 9AM. Coincidentally I have to work at the book store at 9AM. That means I’m a tad insane, and insane Barb would mean a more emotional Monday Musing than usual. Fortunately my pal Penny Watson wrote one today that is excellent, and she […]
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