I'm working on writing the first book in a promotional series I've been planning for some time. One of the things I want to do, is include thoughts, suggestions and experiences from authors :) I bet you have some awesome promo ideas and would like to know if you would like to provide a quote. I think that offers more varied info for the authors who read the…

http://mstephens-musings.blogspot.com/ I've had this blog for a while but haven't done too much with it. After spending the past four months blogging on the 18 or so sites that I belong to, I decided I needed to revamp my blog to not only promote my writing, but to also have a place where I can showcase other authors.

I'd like to invite you to vist my blog and look forward to your comments!

I'm not much into blogging. So here's a piece that originally appeared in "Mystery Scene...."…

posted by guest blogger Marilyn Levinson

I’ve started writing a new book – a Y A horror. Once again I’m a boy. I’m fifteen years old and I’ve just lost my family. What’s more, I’ve yet to discover I’m in the clutches of an uncle with evil intentions, not the least of which is to take over my body. Quite a switch from writing cozy mysteries for adults.

Adults? Kids? What’s the difference these days? How many adults have their noses in the latest Harry Potter, a series that…

posted by Leann Sweeney

My first grandchild will arrive in October, so before I spend three weeks in Seattle in the fall, I decided to fit in every appointment to every doctor or dentist I know. Plus, I start a new medical insurance deductible in September. That's an important scheduling factor. I know Aetna will be glad when this year is over. Between the Lyme meds and the physical therapy, it's been a pricey year for all of us.

I made the mistake of seeing the dentist first.…

Yesterday's post was on writing what you like versus what will sell. I find that among my works, I can't say which is better or best; I love whichever one I'm working on right now. I can't imagine being told what to write, and I guess that taking the creativity out of a person's work is what makes a writer a hack. Although I understand the need for editorial intervention once I'm done, before that point I have to write my story. It is this that makes me reluctant to join critique groups that…

Starting Saturday is a week exactly the anthesis of the writer's solitary life:

Catch a plane at 6 a.m on Saturday. Three events that day, culminating with one of my royal tea parties at the Mystery Bookstore, LA.

Then drive to San Diego. Royal teaparty. Fly home.

Monday, fly to Denver.

Tuesday two early morning TV shows. Evening event.

Wednesday drive to Boulder, evening event.

Thurs fly to Salt Lake, evening event.

Friday fly to Portland,…

I just finished book seven, and I have that feeling that I always get when I finish a nice fat mystery--kind of lost, like I was inhabiting a world and was suddenly sent home. A sort of death, really.

So now I must go through my book pile and decide what's next--but Harry, I must say, is a tough act to follow. JKR filled seven huge books full of history for each character so that a reader is left feeling that they grew up with these people, went to school with them--what an amazing…

The synopsis is all about a man in his late fifties. He has a wife and two teenage sons. His wife has had medical problems and the healthcare expenses are rising. Deep over his head in debt and wanting to find a better job as he has been working at a department store acting as the regional manager. However, he has hit the top with his earnings. With working sixty hour weeks, there is little hope that even a part-time job will dent his needs. One evening he is looking through the want ads.…

posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

"But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near."

"To his Coy Mistress", Andrew Marvell

I admit it. I'm a Boomer, and our generation ain't getting any younger. Clever marketers have noticed that. We are daily bombarded with the "opportunity" to purchase long-term care insurance, retirement property in warm (or foreign) climes, and cemetery plots.

Despite more than a few creaks and groans in the ole…

I had lunch with a writer friend the other day and we got into a discussion about what we write. I'm about to be published in historical romance when I really love writing mysteries. She's published in cozies and wants to start a series with a paranormal detective. Conventional wisdom says to write what you know, but there's also the consideration of what will sell versus what you really love to write.

My friend's written two series, one she devised herself and one she was asked to…

In 1947 there’s only one female P.I. in New York City and her name is Allie Fortune.

They call her the P.I. Princess. Allie Fortune is the only woman private…