I’ve been sitting on this news for way too long!  But today, I finally get to share a new project:  Magic Times Two!


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I was going to write a long post about all the things that happened this year, but I was having trouble finding a way to make it as interesting and touching as it *felt* to me, inside my head.  So here, in bullet form, are the high points of my 2013 writing life (in no particular order):

• After a gap of several years, I published a new Jane Madison ( Read more... )

A recent article in Romance Writers Report discussed “under the bed” manuscripts (what I would call “trunked” manuscripts - as in, stored in a trunk).  The article pointed out that many authors are publishing their trunked works, using the wonders of Amazon, B&N, and other purveyors of ebooks to reach the audience that their treasured never-sold ( Read more... )

So, I had a nice, long chat with my agent yesterday.  In these days of combined self- and traditional-publishing, nice long chats with my agent are … interesting.

You see, my agent is not involved with my self-publishing career.  He does not provide advice, he does not provide support, and he does not see any profit.  To the extent that I devote my ( Read more... )

A few things that I’ve learned in the past week:

• If you go for a few months without wearing pierced-ear earrings, the hole in your ear *will* close up.  Alcohol swabs are great for tending to newly self-repierced ears.
• You can develop a fair opinion of most books (but not all) in the first twenty pages.  Especially when those books are only 218 ( Read more... )

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with their language peeves!  Be assured that several of them are working their way into the current Super Secret Project.

(Oh - and for those of you who despise moot/mute - I routinely say “mute point” in speaking with my family, as an in-joke to mock those who say it unknowingly.  I’m sure that people have overheard ( Read more... )

For the current Super Secret Project, I’m collecting examples of *spoken* fractured English (e.g., “enormity” misused to mean a really big thing, instead of a really hideous thing.)  I’ve already listed “irregardless” and “literally” (for figurative events).

Care to share your most-hated of fracturings of the English language?  My only limitation ( Read more... )

… How much is on your hard drive, until your hard drive isn’t there any longer.

No major computer disasters here - my laptop hard drive decided to fail in very slow motion.  When I complained to Inhouse Tech Support (that would be Mark), he ran Disk Utility and revealed the flashing red notice that the drive was “Failing”.

We backed up the minimal ( Read more... )

Hmmm…  I haven’t been around here much.  I have a thousand reasons, but I’ll spare you and share only a few.

1.  I finished my First Ever Knitting Project.  What’s that you say?  Why don’t I post pictures, so that you can giggle with glee with me?  Well, I can’t find my cable for my digital camera, and my iPhone photos of the scarf were ( Read more... )

This past weekend, I indulged in a writers’ retreat.  A few friends and I converged on one writer’s home.  We met in central Pennsylvania, which meant that I got to enjoy a lovely drive (no freeway backups on the busier bits!) complete with the last of the autumn color and all sorts of winter-preparation of fields (read:  the scent of manure made ( Read more... )