I’m a year older now. Don’t feel it, sure don’t act it.

Hmm, I’ll take that back. Last week was a rush one with an editor requesting the full of COMMON BOND, getting it printed, off to her, then the wait. You can read the blow by blow on my March 8 blog on Writeminded.

As I was reading BOND, I couldn’t believe so much time had gone by since I’d first written this story. Seems a lifetime away since it finaled in contests, yet the book is so much better after my last rewrite. Even now it … Read the rest »

After getting a fourth of my chicklit mystery written, I realized it wasn’t a true mystery. (Talk about a head-slapping thung moment!) I started getting a bit nervous when no dead body showed up early in the book. I was reader to knock someone off and get the murder underway, but it just wouldn’t happen.

Instead of murder, I’ve got people missing and blood. In fact, I still don’t have a murder. I don’t know where the people are either. Well not entirely. I think I know where one of them is holed up.

At any rate, Hello Chaos is … Read the rest »

I’ve written quite a few novels and have yet to write (or should I say plot?) two of them the same way. Admittedly part of the reason is my refusal to write anything resembling an exact formula or cookie-cutter idea which in my mind translates to boring.

But for the last few novels, I did write a brief synopsis and/or back blurb before I started chapter one. That I always partnered up with rough character lists (I don’t do charts). This time I didn’t bother with the outline or synopsis. Why?

In looking back over my previous works, I realized … Read the rest »

Instead of forging ahead with my chicklit mystery today, I pulled up a historical romance file and read the first three chapters. Why, you ask?

Two reasons. I love this particular western historical romance–it took third place in two contests. And some time back, author Karin Tabke told me to query her editor with the work. Actually Karin said more on the lines of, “Get your ass in gear, Jan, and send BOND to my editor. ”

So this morning I went over COMMON BOND to check for errors (yes, after going over this countless times I found a missing … Read the rest »

My hero whistles.

It came as a surprise to me. Yes, I don’t do extensive characters sketches–my characters evolve as I write. And this isn’t the first time one of my heroes whistled.

So why did my current hero Trent’s trait surprise me this time?

It’s not the fact he whistled, but how he whistles.

Cord, my cowboy hero from COMMON BOND, whistled ballads and whistled when he was herding cattle. He created a soothing tone, almost a wistful quality.

Not so for Trent. He can let out a piercing whistle, a reverberation that’ll make your ears pop. It’ll carry … Read the rest »