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How’s your voice?

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 [...]

Testing, one, two, three

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 [...]

Getting down to business

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 [...]

On travels and decompressing

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 [...]

Music full, cue SFX

It finally happened! For whatever reason, I’ve always been interested in sound effects. I listen intently at the “foley effects” in motion pictures, always wondering how they create the footsteps on gravel, or horse hooves on cobblestone and a fly buzzing in a room. I used to listen to the radio theatre mystery shows that [...]

Thankfuls

A friend recently gave me a book called “40 Days of Thankful Living,” where there are spaces to write what I’m grateful for between Oct. 16 and Nov. 24, or the 40 days prior to Thanksgiving. At dinnertime when our son was little, we would each tell what we were “thankful” for that day, and [...]

How hot is it?

How many ways can you say hot? In Arizona, many pass the time coming up with new descriptions for what temperatures feel like when they climb over 100 degrees in the Sonoran Desert. Scorching, blistering and toasty are a few words that come to mind. Similes include: hot air like an oven; so hot you [...]

Writing time: stick to schedule

Many people ask how I accomplish all that I do. The simple, and practical answer, is "schedule, schedule, schedule." I’ve mostly been sticking to my Monday through Friday morning writing routine, which sometimes includes reading the daily digital newspaper with my coffee and breakfast, and sometimes I head right to the computer before the paper, and [...]

Dads: a special kind of love

Dads everywhere will be honored this month for Father’s Day, and I’m grateful my dad is one of them. Lowell Fagen has had a varied and interesting life, starting as a farmer, raising hogs, sheep, corn and soybeans; going into the Marine Corps and serving in World War II as well as Korea; teaching Dale [...]