Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

Why I love writing about K9 police and their canine partners

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I write a lot of books about K9 police officers and their four-legged partners. My first such book was a stand-alone for Love Inspired titled A Tender Touch. I became fascinated with the dogs that are trained to protect and serve. They go through intensive methods to teach them to search and rescue, find drugs and bombs and to track down dangerous criminals. They can pick up scents from twenty … [Read more...]

The Immense Power of Words

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I make my living with words. Whether's it's teaching graduate classes at a Big Ten university or writing, words are my livelihood. I've had a love affair with words since I learned to read. I still vividly remember being a first grader and told I couldn't read a book because it was at a sixth grade level. Guess which book became my favorite of that year, and I still remember that story about … [Read more...]

We need to keep a little Christmas!

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It's the first day of December. I haven't even thought about decorations. I needed a Christmas gift bag this morning for a luncheon I was attending where we exchanged gifts and I remembered everything was up in the attic and I don't have the upper-body strength to bring down the heavy door. I was home alone. I searched the house and found one sad little Christmas bag in the top shelf of my closet. … [Read more...]

I’m a writer? Then why am I stuck?

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  I love writing, but I don't like getting started. It is complete drudgery to create a multi-layered proposal. When I finally reach the right depth, it sits on my computer desktop for weeks or months while publishing houses consider whether my writing is a good fit for them. [Tweet "Wonder what to do when you're stuck? @Cara_Putman pulls back the curtain & asks for help. … [Read more...]

Things I learned at Novelists, Inc.

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Hello. I just got back from the Novelist, Inc Conference which was held at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida. This year, the conference focused on Indy publishing and social media. I liken it to a gold rush. Some will strike it rich, some will find a few good nuggets and some will keep panning for crumbs. The buzzwords were all about discoverability, distribution, diversification, … [Read more...]

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