Please extend a warm welcome to author Alyssa Schwarz! I'm on trip to New York with my daughters at the moment. :) Alyssa is graciously filling in for me AND giving away a copy of her new book to one of you. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win! Happy weekend, Becky Thanksgiving. No, I’m not talking about the holiday coming up in a month and a half. I’m talking about the act … [Read more...]

Hi friends and happy Wednesday!  I have been an avid pantser. Meaning, that I don’t plot, don’t plan my story out, don’t do character worksheets or interviews, or anything of the sort. I just have a “what if” scenario or question in my mind and I’d sit at the computer to write—just letting the story unravel and the characters come to life.  However, I should change “don’t’” to … [Read more...]

A few months ago, our own Karen Witemeyer wrote a great post called Word Nerd about the enjoyment she takes in learning the history behind some of the words she comes across while researching and writing her novels. I too, consider myself a word nerd, and the one tab I almost always have open when I’m writing and editing is the Online Etymology Dictionary, so I can check to see if words I want to … [Read more...]

We’ve been home from our European adventure for more than a week now and while I can truly say, there is no place like home, it’s been such fun going back through our photos and deciding what bits to share with you of the firehose we drank from during two weeks of traveling through France, England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland with all of Ken's siblings and their spouses.  I thought I … [Read more...]