Here is a hard lesson I had to learn: there are tougher things to being an author than getting the book published. I believed that once I had published my first book, all would be known to me. I could trust I had arrived. I had met the hardest, and biggest, hurdle and my course…
I’m taking a beginning art course. I am not much of an artist and this is definitely moving me out of my comfort zone. The other night in class, we were asked to draw a still life. It was of a Styrofoam ball and crumpled paper. The idea was that we cover the drawing pad…
I just purchased new pans. Tuesday Morning was having a sale. I did some research, picked them up for a good price, and—hoo boy. Now that I have pans, I MUST cook, right? Or am I once more being caught up in my best intentions? This is a dangerous question for me. I have more visions…
This week I took in the Monet exhibit at the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth. The show covered Monet’s later years when he was established, wealthy from his art . . . and going out of style. His paintings weren’t selling. The demand was for abstract art. And this exhibit was of one unsold vibrant,…
I heard Alan Alda speak last Saturday night. He was charming and fun. He grew up in Vaudeville and knows how to tell a story. What I wasn’t expecting was a bit of plot development insight. Referring to Aristotle’s observation that a story has “a beginning, a middle, and an end,” he observed that so…
I’m desperate to get myself organized. Yes, this stuff is usually reserved for January and a new year but I’m preparing to move from my wonderful Richmond to Austin. Big changes are coming. (I’ll share more info as I go along) and I know if I don’t reset my goals and focus, I will get…
I started seriously writing in 1991. This coming May 2016, I will have been at this profession for twenty-five years. That’s a good milestone. So, here are a few things I’ve learned over the years. I’ll add more as I consider them: No one will believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. Few…
It isn’t unusual for authors of other genres to read their work at book signings. However, in Romance, we haven’t done it that often until Hope Tarr, Maya Rodale, and others started Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC. Now there are a host of Romance genre reading programs, many using the “Lady Jane” in the title,…
I’m reading a lyrical, insightful book right now by the educator and poet Parker J. Palmer titled LET YOUR LIFE SPEAK: Listening to the Voice of Vocation. Yeah, I know, that sounds heavy but it is actually a wonderful read during this Season of Gratitude when we take stock of the year we’ve lived. What…
I am a fan of Angela Hunt’s books on writing. They are practical, clever ways of understanding how fiction works and how to speed up writing. Angela and I met once through our mutual friend Robin Lee Hatcher. It was one of those chance meetings in the hotel hallways at a writers’ convention. After Angela…