I think one of the most confusing pieces of advice aspiring writers get is “write what you know.”
On the surface, this is good advice. If you’re writing a novel about a white, middle-aged, divorced college professor, and you happen to be a white, middle-aged, divorced college professor, naturally your job will — in theory […]

Well, I’ve spent a very long and very hot afternoon working out an overdue proposal. I’ve just hit “send.” The breeze has finally kicked up and I can smell the jasmine that winds up the trellis beneath my office window. I’m thinking about heating up the leftover war wonton soup and having supper and a […]

Apologies for cross blogging. Er…I’m not referring to my temper, but to the content of this particular post. I have a little dilemma, and I’m gathering data for my decision-making process. Doesn’t that sound more dignified than admitting I just don’t know what the hell to do and have resorted to asking people on the […]

Today’s blog requires a little bit of audience participation: namely the use of your imagination.
I was thinking about the theory of how we “identify” with characters in novels, and I started thinking about what if I actually was the character in a mystery novel–and what a crazy mystery novel that would be.
Not that it kept […]

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before–heck, I might have even blogged on it before, but I love books on writing. Part of my interest stems from running a writing group at Barnes and Noble where they encourage us freelancers …er…flog the wares, but I’ve always been a fan of writing books.
I find them […]

Maunderings. Is that a word? Did I just invent that one?
Anyway, greetings from Malice Domestic. It’s Saturday night and Sara and I just got back to our room and the comfy beds. Tonight was the Agatha Banquet — and you’re probably wondering who won everything. But we’ll leave that to clearer heads than our own […]

My latest obsession is a 1970s British crime series called THE PROFESSIONALS. Fifty-seven digitally re-mastered episodes–that I haven’t stopped watching since I bought them from Amazon.uk a month ago. First I watched them on my laptop. Then I bought a cheap region-free DVD player and now I’m watching them in my office. When I should […]

That was my favorite Yahoo headline this morning.
According to The Royal Astronomical Society, the looping magnetic fields along the Sun’s outer regions, called the corona, carry magnetic sound waves in a similar manner to musical instruments such as guitars or pipe organs. The frequency of the sound waves is below human hearing, but it’s […]

If I received royalties for every time someone told me he wants to write a book someday–when he has the time–I’d be a wealthy woman. Far wealthier than I’ll ever be writing my own darn books.
People have a lot of misconceptions about writers. One of those misconceptions is that we write when inspiration strikes. […]

Apologies for flaking on last Monday’s posting.
I lost my balance.
I mean my writing balance. Or, more accurately, the balance between writing and the other writerly things we take on–all part of the writing gig, but not the most important part, which is, of course, the writing. I overbooked myself, which comes with the territory. […]