Already he was in top-hero status in my pantheon.  Then the flood of publicity this week told me something I hadn't realized: When Nelson Mandela, then imprisoned, changed his strategy and began to negotiate with the white government of South Africa, his colleagues in revolution believed that he had sold out. Which pretty much put […] Read More

Last spring, Publishers Weekly published a story of mine about the dramatic lengths I was prepared to go to for the launch of my novel Cobalt Blue.  I mentioned actual dancing, but hadn't seriously contemplated that that would be part of my strategic plan. Then I receive in the email today from my photographer friend […] Read More

You could call it coincidence or synchronicity depending on your view of life.  Here's what happened:  A couple of years ago, a retired minister, Mahan Siler, came to a week-long writing retreat I led at Doe Branch Ink in the NC mountains. Such a thinker and writer is he that I was very flattered he […] Read More

 From guest blogger Jodi Barnes, author of Santa Breaks Bad Good writers seek out uncomfortable, sometimes terrifying, situations in which to place their characters — making for good character development and compelling plots. But when the writer puts herself, by choice, into uncertain territory, that can be the scariest of all. We never know what's […] Read More

At the Monterey Aquarium in California a few weeks ago, I came upon this scene straight out of my novel Cobalt Blue. The picture's above, the moment in the story below.   "A great window onto an underwater world and inside, slowly rising and falling, bubble shapes with their trailing strands. Jellyfish! Chillingly primitive. Before […] Read More

A week of crossing the ocean on a ship has powerful results on my writing and, uncannily, book sales. It has happened to me twice: on the Queen Mary 2 and the QE2.  Today my wee e-book, AT SEA WITH MY WRITING is FREE on Amazon. Subtitle: A NOVELIST CRUISES TO BOOK DEALS. (You can […] Read More

Most writers have a little unease when approaching the blank screen for the first time each day.  That's very often the case even when the job is no more than making up a story and/or assembling sentences. For Mark Pinsky, working on his new book involved much scarier situations.  And yet he persisted in his […] Read More

A story about sisters, set in Mumbai and Barcelona, Traces of Sandalwood is a movie to be made by an all-female crew: director, composer, line producers, etc. This exciting project is, in part, an effort to balance the extreme male dominance of the movie-making industry. Guest blogger Holly Bieler — who grew up in LA […] Read More

Newly wedded couple last week in Monterey. Read More

I just made a change in my "price structure" for critiquing manuscripts, etc.  In addition to the page rate, I ask people to also buy one of my novels each time they contract with me for a service.  Even if they already have all of them! Cheeky? Maybe. Highly self-promotional? You bet! I consider it […] Read More