There was a time in my life when if you'd asked me what I most wanted to be, it would have been a ballerina. There was also a stretch where being able to sit down at a piano and play whatever music was required would have been both pleasing and useful. Nowadays, I most often wish I understood this stupid machine better.

I know, it isn't the machine that's stupid. That's the problem. It's amazing, it's capable, it's complicated, and I can only take the technology it offers to a certain…

UPDATE: I received so many wonderful entries for my 'Create a Corpse' contest that it was very difficult to pick one name for one corpse. So I decided to pick 3 winners--3 corpses!

(I guess that kind of makes me a serial killer...)

"Deirdre Dailey" is the corpse named by...who else but Deirdre Dailey! Yes, I did have a few brave people who…

I just submitted my new book to my publisher! I'm waiting to hear what they think.

Finding the right title is an interesting process. This book started out as a short story published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in December 2006. That story was written under the title "Murder at the Ass End of Nowhere." Ass End of Nowhere is a phrase from my childhood -- used to describe my small hometown, or the even more remote, rural parts of the county.

But EQMM doesn't do ass,…

by Guest Blogger Kate Flora

When I was a much younger writer, I used to think that what we did was sit at our desks, in our rooms, and make things up. Fueled by a lifetime as a voracious reader, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that a writer could create an imaginary world and people it with imagined characters, and it would feel so real and compelling that I could get swept into that world and become lost in story. I never realized how much research a…

This week, Word Nerd's Q&A is with thriller writer Marcus Sakey. His new book hit shelves a week ago or so, and his first book, "The Blade Itself" has gotten lots of good press.

To learn more about the new book and Sakey, read the interview here.

I can't claim to be inspired by weather, but a blizzard does one thing for me as a writer. I can't leave the house, so I settle my mind and concentrate on writing. There's no rushing to the post office to mail out those fliers that advertise the new book. There's no visiting libraries to make sure every person in the place knows who I am and wants to recommend my book to patrons. There's not even meeting a fellow author for lunch and moaning about the state of the business for an hour or…

This blog is all about self-motivation so I need to keep the entries short!

I've decided to blog my book progress by documenting the cases as I'm writing them :

1894 - James Canham Read - serial adulterer - married with 8 children, secretly living in second home with Beatrice and another child, carrying on with married Louisa (he was the father of both her children) and having an affair with her sister Florrie who was pregnant.

Unsurprisingly it…

I read the second Ed Loy Book The Colour of Blood a while ago and I confess I was hooked enough to buy the first book immediately. It's taken me a little while to get around to reading THE

WRONG KIND OF BLOOD, but it was worth the time. Follow the link below

to my comments on the first book, and if you haven't read either of

these, and kind of like a tough, hard as nails private detective and

can…

the first conference of year is looming on the horizon. Love is Murder is this weekend, and this year I'm a published author. Last year, I was soon-to-be-pubbed, but this year it'll be subtly different.

I'm curious to see what the experience is like now that I have a bit of knowledge under my belt. I know I should use it as a HUGE marketing opportunity and pimp my product like crazy, but I'm always leery about doing that (and so dislike others who do that). So this will give me a…

Every year Preditors and Editors has a poll of Reader's Choices for the previous year.

I just got word yesterday that my debut novel with Dark Eden Press, Halo in Her Pocket, made the Top Ten list! Settling in at #8, this is a huge honor as Halo released in Oct 2007. On the list with some really wonderful authors, I'm just pleased Halo was nominated at all, but to make the top ten... wow. I'm stunned!

If you want a break from mystery and appreciate a little romp on the wild…

Well, I have a contract in the works for my state stories - it is a 50-story/5-year deal with about one new state a month coming out. As per the publisher's info, I will probably see my first story sometime in September or October and then hopefully one a month after that. See a write-up about the series on http://willowravenillustration.blogspot.com/, Aidana WillowRaven's blog, and let her know that she is doing a great…

As I have business cards strewn on the floor of my home office to input in my Microsoft Outlook address book, I realize that I haven't been doing a good job in promotion maintenance.

Just as a reminder more for myself than anyone else, I've decided to launch this series here on the little things to remember in book promotion. So remember -- do what I say, not as I do!

The E-Mail List

I've discovered that the most important arsenal that a developing published writer can…

New novel 'Purple Death' will join previously published e-books 'The Nemesis Cell' and 'Avenue of the Dead' in being released as paperbacks later this year by new publisher Still Waves Publishing. These will all be published under traditional publishing contracts and not the self-publsihign…

Posted by Lorraine (L.L.) Bartlett

I've been told that I don't give enough description of my characters. There're a couple of reasons for this. One, depending on the book's point of view, it's difficult to get that information out without resorting to the old, Tricia looked into the mirror, admiring her short-cropped, brown hair, her pert nose, and luscious lips. Too bad her blackened eyes ruined that pretty picture of herself.

Sometimes I really haven't got a…