A writer's journey...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays I wish you all that your heart desires and that you lose yourself in a good book over the holidays. I'll be back in the new year.

Excerpt: Chapter 5, Justified, a Madison Knight Novel Madison’s eyes felt like they had been welded shut by the sandman .  She heard a faint banging, which at first she was able to convince herself was conjured by her sub-conscious and part of a REM cycle, but unfortunately it was persistent.  What time was it anyhow?  She managed to read the clock through foggy slits.  Seven a.m.  The knocking intensified.  Her visitor wasn’t going to leave.  Her initial reaction was to throw something hard at the wall and protest the awakening, but she didn’t have enough energy for that.  “What!”  She yelled loud, certain her neighbors would bang on the wall to protest the noise.  The walls were paper thin in this place, and normally it didn’t take much for them to pound on the wall and scream obscenities to quiet her.  Maybe they had drunk their Christmas cheer and passed out unconscious to the world.  Or possibly, they had take...

As authors, our first love was probably reading. The fact that we were able to escape into a world of the author's imagination fascinated us. It motivated us to the point we thought 'I can do this'. The process began. Your passion for reading transformed into a love of writing. You wanted to the be the one who created the worlds, the characters, who swept away readers into a place of your imagination where they could escape reality for a while.  Then you got published. It's true, it takes a lot of time to keep up in today's publishing industry. To stand out and be noticed takes more effort than ever before.  You've got your blog, your website, your online media presence--it all takes time. And that's not even counting the time we need to focus on our writing, editing, and formatting (if we do this ourselves). On top of this, we all have lives and other responsibilities. Where does reading rate with you these days? I cannot stress the i...

Excerpt: Ties that Bind She caught a glimpse of a chocolate lab puppy peeking around the doorway from the seating area.  He had a red bow around his neck.  She felt her chest tighten. “Speaking of your gift…” Panic seized her.   The responsibility, the hair… Terry bent to his haunches.  “Come here, buddy.”  The little guy walked over equally nervous as curious.  Terry scooped him in a blanket that hung over the banister. Its fur looked so shiny and soft, and its little legs were curled up beneath him.  The ears dangled and looked as soft as velvet. “Here, he’s all yours.”  Terry passed him over, and she had no option but to extend her arms. Madison didn’t know whether to thank him or run.  Her first instinct was to run—fast and far away.  The door was right there.  “I don’t know what to say.”  “Don’t worry, we brushed him before you came.  And he won’t mark your dress wrapped in the blanket.” It...

It's ironic how as authors we can be terrified of our own books. Sometimes the fear comes before we've even set ink to paper, or fingers to keyboard. Maybe it's our first book, or maybe it's our fifth. It doesn't matter. There can always be a bit of apprehension with any new project...but even more so when you're starting out with your first book, or a new genre to you. You wonder whether you should just dive on in, or if you should outline. Know this is a personal decision and you have to go with what works best for you. Typically you have been granted with the image of a scene, a character, or dialogue--maybe all three--and you know you have to write the book. Don't get weighed down in concerns, just write.  I know some authors who don't even write their books in chronological order. Scenes hit them and they write them. They fill in the book as they go along. (The thought of that scares me, but it's what works for them.) Some authors...