Sneaking Up on the End

I’m nearly done with Platinum, my follow-up to Sapphire. In many ways, this has been a more difficult story to write than Sapphire was. All these years, I’ve heard writers talk about how each new book is a different challenge, some easy, some harder. I suppose that has something to do with art, with the creative process. If it’s not…

Houston, We Have a Breakthrough

We’re starting to get the warmer weather cloud formations again. Some of them are so funny – little self-contained spaceships sailing by. So, I mentioned yesterday that over the weekend I pitched The Middle Princess to a St. Martin’s editor. It was interesting, because the advice is to always pitch just one book. Even if you envision the book as…

Sunshine and Silken Sands

Okay, I’m getting my feet under me again. Thank you, everyone, for all your kindness and support. I might even have looked at some kitten pictures yesterday. David is egging me on for a Norwegian forest cat. Wouldn’t that be fun? So, finally, here’s my break-down of the Gulf Coast Writers Silken Sands Conference last weekend. It was a lovely…

The Dreaded Synopsis: More than a Query Tool

I had to write a synopsis the other day for the new novel I’m shopping around. It will come as no shock to any of you writers out there that I avoided doing it As Long As Possible. In fact, I had a list of ten agents I wanted to query and I managed to send to eight of them…

On the Job, Naughty or Not

Something about these bird tracks in the snow seems heartbreakingly sweet to me. They make good neighbors, the birds. Yesterday they were busily eating all the seed they could, ahead of this storm. They must be tucked in somewhere today because it’s very quiet out there. I’m at one of those funny crossroads places. I mentioned yesterday that I’d finished…