Tomorrow is September 1. Which means today is New Year’s Eve. Not the official one, obviously. Nobody is going to stand outside tonight in twenty-degree weather wearing a stupid hat and counting backward from ten. There probably won’t be champagne. Ryan Seacrest is unlikely to turn up. And if somebody starts singing Auld Lang Syne, […]
The Other New Year’s Eve Read More »
A thriller is supposed to make you nervous. Cozy fiction is supposed to make you feel safe. Put them together and you get something resembling a relaxing panic attack. Except… what if cozy doesn’t mean nothing bad can happen? What if it simply means that when trouble comes, you won’t have to face it alone?
Can a Thriller Be Cozy? Read More »
Once upon a time, “cozy” meant somebody had been murdered in a picturesque English village, but at least there was tea. Now cozy has escaped the mystery shelves and wandered into fantasy, science fiction, and even my own *The Summer Garden*. So what exactly makes a story cozy—and what genre will it invade next?
Is Everything Getting Cozy? Read More »
August may look quiet from the outside, but behind the scenes authors are tending stories the way gardeners tend their plants—patiently preparing for the season ahead.
The Dog Days of an Author’s Summer Read More »
Some writing obstacles aren’t plot problems or lack of inspiration—they’re upholstered. After unexpectedly finishing an entire chapter of Fall From Grace in a single day, I discovered the biggest difference wasn’t my writing. It was where I sat. The recliner I’d always considered a harmless pre-writing stop had quietly become the world’s most comfortable procrastination machine.
The Recliner Is Not My Friend Read More »
A thriller writer’s Google search history can look alarmingly criminal—especially when questions about silencers, DNA and extradition sit beside tomato varieties, bitter cucumbers and homemade hummus.
My Google Search History Should Probably Come with a Lawyer Read More »
A writer’s mind doesn’t stop at a strange thought — it follows it past the point most people turn back. Somewhere along that drift, reality starts to feel negotiable… and a story begins to breathe.
A Writer’s Mind Does Not Walk in Straight Lines Read More »
Ideas don’t arrive fully formed. They start as small, sideways questions — the kind that won’t leave you alone once they land. That’s where stories actually come from.
Where Ideas Actually Come From Read More »
Some weeks, the stories don’t stall — they simply make room for other word-work. Editing, shaping, refining someone else’s manuscript is still time spent inside the craft. And when you finally return to your own blank page, you bring sharper instincts with you.
When the Work You’re Paid For Pushes Aside the Work of the Heart Read More »
Right now the to-do list is loud. Fulfill a 660%-funded Kickstarter. Edit other writers’ books. Run a publishing company. Market existing titles. Keep upcoming releases on track. And somewhere in there is a quiet little line that says: Write the next book.
That line is always the easiest to slide.
Because it doesn’t yell. It doesn’t send invoices. It doesn’t have shipping deadlines. It just waits — patiently — while everything else feels urgent.
Writing While the House Is On Fire Read More »
People have a general sense of what authors do, but that sense is… impressionistic. Which leads to some wonderfully confident assumptions about money, inspiration, and what happens after a book is published. In the spirit of public service, here are five of the most persistent misconceptions about authors—and what the job actually looks like from the inside.
The Top Five Misconceptions About Authors Read More »