I wrote the first Coot Long mystery in between double hip replacements.
My left hip was replaced in January of 2015. As I recovered (once I got to the point I could focus), I lay in bed flat on my back so the new hip wouldn’t wrench out of the socket, and I read mysteries.
Before I went under the knife, I’d solicited mystery...
Most people read blogs to learn from them. But it works the other way around too: the person writing a blog learns from the process, the readers, the stats, the comments. Today, I’ll share with you some of the pearls of wisdom I’ve learned from writing this blog:
If you put “naked” in the title of a post, you get a LOT...
HARBORING EVIL has gone to acquisition editors at publishing houses.
Now the editors have to read it.
And like it.
And want to buy it.
The flame burns hot.
Oh, y’all. I’m worn out. In the last 3 days, I’ve incorporated massive revisions to HARBORING EVIL that were sent by the agent. I’ve also revised its long synopsis, drafted a short synopsis (shorter is SO much harder.) Drafted a long synopsis for Harboring Malice, hopefully the second installment in the series, and drafted...
I pride myself on being independent. Ever since I was a little girl, my mantra has been, I can do it myself. Or more accurately, let me do it my way. Which often leads to forging new paths, which often means doing it myself. But a miracle in my literary life has occurred: I’ve gotten an agent, and I don’t feel so all alone.
My...
I wrote a book, and I made an assumption. I assumed you were like me. I assumed that, some nights, as you fall into that state before sleep actually takes you, you startle awake. When that happens, you remember that moment when you quit going to see your grandmother in the nursing home because you were flush with new love and you abandoned her as...
Yes, we have come to the end of our deep dive into the machinations behind TRACKING HAPPINESS: A SOUTHERN CHICKEN ADVENTURE. Read this post slowly. Savor it. After it is over, you can only get more Lucinda by re-reading the book…or listening to it. Perhaps see how my very southern narration impacts your experience of the story. And you can...
We’re having a grown-up event at Novel Memphis. It’s happening two weeks from today. The celebration is for THE HART WOMEN. I wrote the story. Marisa Whisett Baker is hand-sewing it into a novel. The event will have tickets and everything (the tickets are so Marisa will know when she’s made enough books). You can read about Marisa’s...
This is CHAPTER 25 in our series offering gossip, novel backstory, and personal confessions about TRACKING HAPPINESS: A SOUTHERN CHICKEN ADVENTURE. We’re working our way through a novel here. If you’re just now discovering us, you can jump in now or go back to the first entry and catch up. If you jump in now, I can’t promise you it won’t be confusing,...
When I read the theme for the summer issue of Exterminating Angel Press was “Eternity or Bust,” I knew I had the perfect submission. Thank goodness Tod Davies of EAP: the Magazine thought so too. I’m grateful to her for including my piece in her fabulous magazine.
The short story is an excerpt from my novel THE BONE TRENCH....
