For those who are regular attendees of writing conferences, you know they are a wealth of information and a great way to make new contacts. If you’ve never attended one, I highly encourage you to find one even on a local level in your home town. Photo at right was at AZMysteryCon 2016, Photo by Elena Thornton, [...]
No, that's not a misquote from the X-Files "The truth is out there." Sometimes it feels like I’m writing in a bubble, out in the ether, all by my lonesome. “They” say it’s important to write a regular blog. “They” say a consistent blog is important for driving people to your website, promoting your brand, blah blah blah. [...]
Just realized I didn't get this posted last month! Here is part two of a multi-part series on the City of Chandler's Citizen Police Academy, a free 13-week course to learn more about the Chandler Police Department : Robbery/homicide The rate of homicides in Chandler has decreased in the past 10 years, when there were [...]
For mystery and especially fiction crime writers, the “police procedural” portion of our novels must be spot on, or they will be dismissed as amateurish or not researched properly. I’m referring to how we write about law enforcement in our books: what police do when a crime has been committed; how forensics and crime scene [...]
It’s one thing to have personal clothing preferences in specific styles and colors, but it’s another when it becomes part of your business brand. Most people who know me are aware of my obsession for all things purple: purple clothes, purple toenail polish, even purple streaks in my hair. But when I’m doing speaking engagements [...]
It was another amazing, heart-pounding and yes, very educational Writers' Police Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This was my second WPA, and it was every bit as good as the first. From shooting a pistol and a rifle; to taking part in a “Shoot/Don’t Shoot” scenario; learning about death scene investigations from a medical examiner; [...]
As a former broadcast journalist who worked for both radio and television, the words we write in our news stories are primarily intended for the “ears.” They are meant to be heard, not necessarily read, unless by the TV or radio news anchors. And when writing for others in broadcast news, writing with that person’s [...]
Allergies and asthma suck. They’re especially tough for singers and narrators, of which I am both. But thanks to inhalers, cough drops and other remedies, I’ve started narration for “Dead Air,” book #2 in my “Behind the Mic” mystery series. Fortunately, my late husband, Geoff Hancock, set up an audio recording studio originally for my [...]
Time to get down to business! For two years, I followed a schedule of writing a manuscript for six months, then spending the next six months editing, proofing, getting comments from beta readers, followed by the back-end work of cover design, formatting into e-book and print versions, etc. That translated to completing a book a [...]
How do you decompress? Do you ever relax? What’s your favorite mode of down time? I will admit I’m not usually much good at sitting around doing nothing. Except at the ocean. I was fortunate to spend nearly a month in Hawaii recently, which is my mother’s birthplace. She was born on Maui, had relatives [...]
