I still have a bit of a hangover from RWA Nationals. Surrounded by 2000 people eating, breathing, and talking–often at the top of their lungs–about writing romance is a high like no other. At the same time. there’s a real sense of…sensory overload. LOL. I’m also not home yet. I stopped off to visit dear friends in Tampa before heading back to Oklahoma.
When I realized today was my scheduled day, I thought of all the things I could say about RWA10, about Orlando, about the amazing people I met for …

I saw this on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books this morning and HAD to share it with you all.  This is such a great show of what the literacy signing is all about — over 500 authors signing books in one room for thousands of fans.  And our very own Silver James is in the video!  Go Silver!

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To conference or not to conference, that is the question.
Okay, so it’s not the most pressing question but as summer has arrived, I figured it’s worth discussing. Show of hands, please. How many of you are going to RWA Nationals in Orlando? *raises hand* How many are going to RomCon in Denver? Who has been or is going to a smaller, regional conference? *raises hand* And did anyone go to Romantic Times? I wanted to, but the budget wouldn’t stretch that far.
For those of you who go to conferences, …

I’m a writer. Right? My job is to create a story (or blog) from thin air and then draft sentences from seemingly random words to tell that story or relay sage advice. Sounds easy. Right? It is. Usually. Mostly. Sometimes. Okay, not today. Iffy is full of BBQ brisket, baked beans, and deviled eggs.
You forget.
Forget what, Iffy?
I only do fiction.
Well…this is fiction.
In your dreams.
Yes, yes, you are.
We aren’t going there again, are we? I am NOT a figment of your imagination.
Are, too.
Am not!
Okay, whatever. I still need you to be …

First, I apologize for this being a very short post. I burned my left hand yesterday–palm and fingers so not typing the greatest in the world. As a result, I’m going to simply throw open a topic and maybe get some discussion going.
How much is Too Much Information? Agent Jessica Faust of Bookends, LLC addressed this topic on her blog last week. Titled The Internet and Your Career, Jessica posed some very interesting questions about how public we as writers should be when it comes to personal views.
I, personally, …

Overly dramatic? Me? No. Surely not! Has anyone seen my brown paper bag? I’ve been hyperventilating for about a month now. Why? My debut novel releases Friday. Technically, it’s been available for order in paperback for about two weeks. The ebook edition goes “live” on Friday. As of my typing this, I haven’t received my copies of the paperback. I’m stalking my postman and I fear he’s getting a little skittish. [EDIT: I HAVE MY HOT LITTLE HANDS ON MY HOT LITTLE BOOK! *pets my preciousssss* My friends, family, and …

No, I don’t mean getting your butt up and moving to get exercise, though lord knows we all need more of that! One of the toughest things to write, in my opinion, is physical action. While fight scenes (action) are tough enough and present their own set of complications, I’m talking about an actual physical act—picking up a sandwich and taking a bite, rolling over after making love, watching someone from across the room. A writer has to walk a fine line between narrative and dialogue as is. Where exactly …

As you read this, I’ll be somewhere in the Caribbean on-board a beautiful ship, Celebrity’s Equinox. The last time I was on a ship, I was 16 and headed to Europe with a study group of 153 high school students. The ship we sailed on wasn’t exactly a luxury liner. It was a freighter that carried passengers, too.
As I type this, Wednesday, Jan. 20th, I taking stock of the first month of the new year in the new decade. I took a drastic step today. I cut my hair. …

Wow. Not only is it a brand new year, it’s a brand new decade. Over the past few weeks, as I’ve been battling a second round of flu, I’ve read lots of blogs about resolutions, goals, expectations (realistic or not), and life in the fast lane. My head was spinning from all the do’s, don’t’s, shoulds, coulds, woulds, and “forget about it because you’re just going to stop doing it anyways”. I suffer from “ooh shiny” complex, like so many others. I read this blog and think, “Oh, yes! That’s …

I’m done. I pulled it off by the seat of my pants, the skin of my teeth and by writing some really terrible cr@pp0la. Srsly! Dreck. Drivel. Sentences and paragraphs my editor would beat me about the head and shoulders for writing. Pages that I would wad up and attempt to score “two” with if I could find my waste basket. But such is the glory and challenge that is National Novel Writing Month. I “cheated” in that I ended up working on two novels. The first one stalled horribly. …