Well, it’s a new year, and that means new everything—possibilities, adventures, and discoveries! I for one am filled with an optimism that I did not have at this time last year. The ringing in of 2021 brought with it a sense of relief, and I have since realized that “relief” and “optimism” are not the …
A while back, I wrote about one of my characters, Scott Jenkins, and where the inspiration for him came from. His role in The Secret Keeper series began as that of the sidekick, the goofy best friend who would serve as the foil for the protagonist Wil’s much more serious character. However, it turned …
When one thinks of a hero, any number of images come to mind: soldiers, firemen, and depending on your political stance nowadays, police. Some may envision doctors, nurses, and paramedics in this time of Covid; others may consider teachers, truckers, grocers, and nursing home caregivers. Of course, there’s also the magical, wonderful world of …
What a lovely surprise I received today by the lovely Suchita Senthil Kumar @suchita_senthil! Suchita is a 17-year-old blogger from India and, according to her Twitter handle, an “artist creating chaos,” which I absolutely love. Suchita is currently blogging about her life during Covid and how she works to find balance in a crazy world …
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People always ask, “Where do you get your ideas” for stories and characters. The obvious (and overly simple) answer is from my life. A writer friend of mine said she once read that an author’s first published novel is usually the most autobiographical, but I don’t believe this to be true. After all, my …
In the spring of 1993, I had a dream. I know it’s a bit cliché—all writers seem to dream their stories, but this is the truth. In this dream, I clearly saw a young girl around the age of 18 wearing nothing more than bloomers, a corset, and a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. …
Many years ago, while I was a student at UNC-Wilmington, I had the good fortune of studying under a man named Stanley Colbert. He offered a piece of advice I have never been able to forget: “When telling the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears,’ bring on the bears.” Mr. Colbert had …
My mama has always had a gift for turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. My childhood was a time of magical possibilities, thanks to Daddy and his storytelling, D&D adventures, George (the family ghost), and Mama’s creative energy. Recently, I watched an episode of The Carol Burnett Show (thanks to Amazon Prime) in …
Comic strips are magical. In fact, they are probably the most genius of all literary genres. Think about it—a story gets told in three or four panels. Panels, not paragraphs, not pages, and certainly not chapters. Even more amazing, cartoonists are able to evoke emotions with very few words or images. We laugh, …