It's time for the "Did I forget anything?" moment and the goodbyes. I'm planning to visit libraries on the way south today and then spend the night with my son and daughter-in-law. The biggest problem right now is books. I sold every copy I ordered and have a waiting list here at home, plus I have none to take on the tour. (NOT complaining about that!) It's just that I have to figure out how to get more. Between us my son and I have a plan.

The other concern in Michigan in February…

It's not an original idea, but it's topical. I'll blog for the next few weeks on a tour I'm making to promote my book, attempting to present an honest view of an author's life on the road.

Today is packing day, and what a challenge! I'm heading from Michigan to Florida, so I need clothes for warm weather and everything in between. I'm signing at a Renaissance Festival so I need trappings for a booth: sign, decorations, prizes, etc. I'm doing several talks, so I need audience handouts,…

Last night was my book launch party. It's a very small town in a low-income area, but I counted on having at least twenty there, friends who would support my publishing efforts and hand over a check even though they seldom buy hardcover books and probably not romances. I'd presold books as Christmas gifts and figured that most of those who wanted one had gone that route, so my sales would be low.

We ran out of books. Twice! The ones I brought sold, then my husband brought in another…

I do presentations to reading groups at libraries and colleges, and in the course of preparing for them, do a bit of research on the types of books available in certain genres. It's surprising to find that whatever one might think of in the line of mystery, it's probably been done.

Vampire detectives? We've got 'em. Sleuths who've been gelded for one reason or another? Yup. Females masquerading as males, ex-soldiers suffering from delusions, police detectives with amnesia, and of…

Someone sent me a link yesterday to a blog written by an editor (http://edittorrent.blogspot.com) that reinforces what six years in this busines has taught me: editors (and agents as well) don't read much before deciding if your work will be rejected.

I don't blame them. They're deluged with material, since the computer has made writing a book possible for almost anyone. They know what they're looking for and over time have honed their…

Yesterday I wrote about letting characters grow inside your head until they are people. The next step is finding the words to convey that character's "personhood" to a reader.

It certainly isn't enough to tell what he looks like; in fact, some excellent authors refuse to write much physical description at all. Who hasn't been taken out of a story by too much detail about eye color or dewy skin? It's wise, at least in modern writing, to toss in details as casual references rather than…

I've read all the advice about how to create good characters, and I've put it to use. I write backgrounds for them, read their dialogue aloud to be sure it sounds authentic, pay attention to the changes that they go through as the story progresses. But there's one more thing that has to happen, and I haven't got a lot of control over it: they have to grow.

Like children under the old tabula rasa theory, characters are blank when we create them. "I need a guy who can tell the other guy…