We all do things we know are bad for us. I drink too much coffee.  I love ice cream. I eat carbs.   These things I tend to do with full knowledge that they are, in fact, bad for me.  I don’t care. I do it anyway.
But what your writing? Have you developed bad habits in your writing?   One of my favorite websites, storyfix.com,  had a wonderful, humorous post on the very subject, so I thought I’d steal share that post with you.
Here’s a bit of the post followed by the …

Apologies for my late post. I just got back from Nationals and brought a nasty cold with me.
This year the RWA National conference was different for me because I had to look at it from a different perspective. Since my last post, I am happy to report that I have sold! Woot!!!
The Chase is On was the first book I wrote nearly twelve years ago. I’m so excited because I’ve heard many writers never sell their first book. I’ll let you know when I get a release date from The …

To all of you just returned from RWA Nationals in Orlando, welcome home! To the rest of you, who, instead of slaving away at your writing, you were slaves to Twitter looking for the next RITA and GH announcement, I salute you, for I am one of you.
This month, I’d like to begin a group of blogs that discuss how Excel can help you as a writer. I’ve spent quite a bit of my life working with Excel and I realized a while back that it’s a great way to …

Writing is a solitary business.
How many times have we heard that phrase or something similar?  It’s true.  But it’s not.  If we don’t have a writing partner (and the majority of us don’t), creating the books we create is something we do all by ourselves.  Hours at the computer, typing and plotting and editing and polishing.  That book’s done…and we do it again.
But there’s a hidden treasure in our solitary profession.  Other writers.  Last week was the RWA National Conference 2010 in Orlando, FL.  Other writers willingly shared their knowledge …

Before you throw the cabbage and rotton tomatoes, I’m giving away books!!! 
Please accept my sincerest apologies for dropping off the face of the internet after two posts from RWA Nationals…  I agree with Silver, I’m still recovering!  Nationals is one of my favorite times of the year, but it blows in like a blustery wind, swirls you inside the tunnel of its tornado and tosses you out a few days later.  But unlike a tornado, it is uphoria, you love it!  You’re so hyped up on adrenaline you don’t even …

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 …

“Psst. You. The one with the chocolate-fingerprinted keyboard. Will you give me a scene already? I’m dying here.”
“Kill me off? You think you can kill ME? We’ll just see about that.”
I am Jeannie Ruesch, and I am a romance author. I must, therefore, admit the above sentences are actual thoughts that have run through my head… not, I am compelled to point out, when I’m sitting at my computer praying for my characters to show their faces.  No, that would be normal.
I’m talking about completely …

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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Hello Readers!
Today is Wednesday and once again it is after 11pm, so most of you will wake up to my blog again
Another crazy whirlwind day!  I woke up this morning and headed to the leadership seminar–which as president of an RWA chapter, I simply must attend!  A great group of presidents and a fabulous speaker, Bob Harris, equals a very informative session.
After leaving there I hung out with my wonderful VP before meeting up with my roomie to go to the literacy autographing–a wonderful charity event open to the public …

Good evening!  A very late evening… it is 11pm here exactly.  I’m just making it back to my room after a busy day, that I had originally dubbed my “Nothing Day.”
A car picked myself and my very dear friend (a romance reader!!!) up at 4:50am… He was actually very funny and kept us well awake.  We arrived on time to the airport, checked our bags and were taking off by 7:30 this morning… a few hours later we unpacked our numerous pairs of shoes and compared outfits   Ah, …

See image to the left.  Picture this as Jeannie this week, since I won’t be attending the RWA Conference this year.
The pout won’t be there all week– I do have fun things planned for the upcoming weekend that I’d be missing were I headed to Orlando.  Like my younger brother’s 30th birthday (how did THAT happen?).  But since I won’t be attending the RWA Conference, I’m putting out the call to all those who are. I want details.  Good, bad, ugly, frizzy-haired and everything in between.
Fortunately, our very own Eliza …

A few years back I ran into an old high school friend.  She owned her own advertising agency and she had worked with many recognizable names. When she asked me what I’d been doing with myself, I didn’t know how to answer. Needless to say, I wanted to look good, so how could I explain to her that I was between jobs that I didn’t really care about, I was raising my three kids and I’d been working on my first novel for two years already?  I hesitated for a …

It’s almost that time…  The time once a year when over a thousand romance writers gather for nearly a week of workshops, pitching, get-togethers, inspirational speeches, book signings and comraderie.  I’m talking about Romance Writers of America’s National Conference–the biggest conference of the year geared toward romance writers. 
Last year was my first year at conference, and it was like being in RW (romance writer) Heaven!  Hours and days on end of nothing but romance and writing!  I met a lot of new friends, and officialy met a lot of friends I’d already had …

I have a rolling cart that slides in under my desk.  On the top shelf of this cart are all the writing books I reach for frequently.  (The second shelf is blank file folders and the bottom is all the mail-order catalogs I love to oogle, but never have money for the clothes shown or the place to wear them – just in case you’re wondering).  Top shelf is the home to my dictionary,the Flip Dictionary (absolutely the best functional dictionary known to man),The Romance Writers’ Phrase Book,  baby name book,  …

“Murder @ Work” (Echelon Press, 2004) and “Murder @ Play” (Echelon Press, 2009) are set in South Africa of the 1990s. The nineties were a fascinating time in South African history: new thinking challenging old beliefs, the media slowly hinting at the possibility of equality for all people, hope and goodwill rising despite the escalating violence. The whites still had a cushy lifestyle: secure jobs for the men, large mansions with swimming pools for the women (many women chose to stay at home and look after the family with the help of their domestic servants). The non-whites still vacuumed the thick carpets and polished the silver BMWs at work, then went home to mud shacks. But the changes – the changes were already afoot….