It’s my pleasure to welcome Kensington editor Hilary Sares to Writeminded. Hilary is my editor and she made my dream come true. I can vouch that her advice is golden (and timely).

Got talent? Great. Work it to the max but don’t forget that determination and patience count just as much in the long run. Once you’ve sold and the long wait to see your work in print is over—yay!—it may seem that fame and fortune are just over the horizon. Um, no (except in a few rare instances). So let’s say you took two years to write that … Read the rest »

Vicki Wurgler won an autographed copy of Falcon’s Mistress by Donna Birdell. Congrats Vicki!

Thanks to everyone who entered contest #1 this month.

There’s still time to enter contest #2. Check the contests page on my website for details.… Read the rest »

There’s been a thread going on a loop about women coloring their hair. My first reaction was to skip them all, since I’m a licensed cosmetologist and I often am tempted to give my professional opinion. I know that’s seldom wanted, but still– I’m tempted. 🙂

The gist is that women tend to color their hair too darkly as they age, and it looks fake. Yeah, doh! This isn’t news.

I’ve preached this for years, and urged my clients to lighten an overall color, and add multi highlights. Heck, even a simple “reverse highlight” makes a huge difference to how … Read the rest »

Enjoy my interview with Kat that was originally posted on Writeminded.

Jan: I’ve heard more than once how easy it was to “break in” to the romance genre back in the 80s. What difficulties did you encounter getting your first novel, Magnificent Passage, published in 1988? And what stumbling blocks have you’ve encountered since in your writing career?

Kat: I find that so funny! When I started everyone was saying how easy it was to “break in” in the 70’s! The truth is, Magnificent Passage, my first book, was turned down by every publisher in NYC. Then Crown publishing … Read the rest »

I just finished mowing the yard–all four acres of it–and I can say with certainty that the dog days of summer are here. Wow, it’s miserable hot and humid.

Added to this chore is the sickening fact that my lawn mower is about ready to give up the ghost. I know a cylinder blew the last time I mowed, and I’m running on one. Crawling better describes it. The guy who fixed it in the spring said if it went again, that was it. Bury the *$%@ and buy new. *sigh*

The only grass that had grown was the crappy … Read the rest »