At the Missouri SCBWI retreat back in late April, Viking editor Kendra Levine shared a couple of ways to think about creating a high-stakes story.  It’s been more than a month, so any mistakes or misrepresentations of what she shared…

I’ve finished one chase scene in my Italian chase novel, and I’m in the middle of working on another one.  I’m finding that one of the challenges is deciding when it’s time to cut to the chase.  How much space…

Emily Dickenson may have been of the opinion that “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.” But she only submitted her poetry to The Atlantic Monthly once.  After her first rejection, she never tried again. A few of her…

I’ll be discussing the reading and writing of mysteries at the Michigan Reading Assciation this Sunday.

I do intend to get back to blogging.  If nothing else, it’s served as a great project diary.  But my husband and I are going to be moving soon.  I’m going to have to dedicate almost all my time to…

There’s something to be said for prolonged meditation on a scene.  As my husband and I have been hunting for houses and preparing our house to go on the market, I haven’t had a lot of time for my own…