I'm a huge fan of BBC productions!  In fact, Nora, the heroine of my upcoming book True to You, has a passion for British movies and mini series and television shows that was inspired by my own enthusiasm for the same. After completing Downton Abbey and season #1 of The Crown, I've been indulging my BBC love with Netflix episodes of Call the Midwife.  But then I heard that PBS was airing a … [Read more...]

Those of us who write the stories that sit between the front and back covers of books are artists.  But so are the people who design the front and back covers of books.  Don't you agree? I'm endlessly interested in covers!  A good book cover is a thing of beauty and tricky to achieve because it has to accomplish several things simultaneously.  To me, a book cover should: Communicate the … [Read more...]

  I grew up in southern California in the 1970s.  Back then, my friends and I would roam around our neighborhood playing Charlie's Angels or roller skating or riding bikes until the street lights came on.  That was our cue to return home for dinner. When the romance between Nancy and Ned Nickerson wasn't nearly as large a part of the Nancy Drew mysteries series as I would have liked, … [Read more...]

I realize that most readers probably don't have much familiarity with book awards.  What the different awards are.  How winners are selected.  Who judges.  What the categories are.  It can all be fairly mystifying to a layperson. We authors know quite a bit about book awards and here's why.  We all write solo, many of us in our homes.... or even in isolated caves rooms within our homes.  We're … [Read more...]

My daughter's second grade Sunday School class presented a nativity play to their parents this past weekend.  The play came complete with a narrator (the teacher in the red shirt in the below photo), dialogue, costumes, and hymns. The kids closed their performance by singing Joy to the World, which caused me to wonder about the history behind one my  favorite Christmas carols.  So I looked … [Read more...]