No lanterns necessary, I already know they’ll be coming by UPS. I’m ready…I think. My busywork is down to just four or five things. The kids’ end-of-year school projects are underway and events in my calendar. My next book is revised and with my agent. The one after is far enough along that I won’t forget what I’m writing about. I’ll [...]

If you want to know how I juggle kids and writing, 2014 debut author and agent-mate Jen Longo is doing a series on just that (my interview is here). Mostly, it involves stuff like… …and my netbook.     If you don’t care about any of that, maybe stop by her blog and show her some [...]

I haven’t done one of these in a while so here’s some of the stuff that’s come through the inbox… ACTUAL FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Will there be another book in The Mark series? Probably not. The Mark (the first book) was never meant to be a series but the ending changed during edits in a [...]

Tuesday, I broke from my normal kids-computer-kids routine and went into the city. On the plus side, it was a balmy 50-something degrees. On the minus, it was raining and windy in the way that turns your umbrella inside-out fifty-five times before you’ve even walked a block. Needless to say, I looked like a drowned rat [...]

I SOLD ANOTHER BOOK! Actually, my awesome agent did. More on that and other details later. I’m going to try to keep quiet until it’s officially announced, but I just had to say it. That’s all. Carry on.

Over the weekend, my two older boys (7 and 8) - who each got a basic Kindle for Christmas – spent their own money, earned from chores or saved from birthdays, to buy books*. This makes both writer-me and mom-me tres happy. I can’t remember them ever doing this before and it got me thinking about how having Kindles has changed our [...]

Its a good thing I log the books as I read them because otherwise I’d swear I must be missing some, but the truth is I only managed to read fifteen books this year. Not very impressive. In my defense I did write two books. And, if you count all the books I’ve read my [...]

47,416 words and I’m out. Is the book done? Heck no. But it wouldn’t have been done even if I spent four more weeks on it or six to eight months, like I usually do. It’s a draft and, by definition, drafts are nothing but a start. And mine usually stink. Is it any worse than [...]

It’s 11:04 EST on Tuesday and with Thanksgiving break/travel/festivities beginning tomorrow, I think I’ve reached the end of this week’s writing time. I’m short of goal by almost 2500 words (10 pages) but I’ve gotta throw in the towel. Too tired. Too much to do tomorrow. This week’s epiphanies… Um… I do have one, actually. And [...]

Yep, its still working. I’m at 30,865 words, just over this week’s goal of 30,720. But I see trouble looming…and not just in the form of Thanksgiving and all the writingless days around it. I still have more than a third of the book left, but have already worked through almost all the chapters I’ve outlined action [...]