Christmas Strikes Back A few years ago, I became interested in scriptwriting. Like many people, I assumed that after a lifetime of watching movies that writing them couldn’t be that hard. I’ll pause here for your laughter to die down. Specifically, I was interested in Christmas movies and why they sucked. Which is unfair, one […]
An Announcement Last month, I blogged about having to scramble to pick a new pen name after the reader-tested and selected name was snagged out from under me. Cue the gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair. I was upset because I had every intention of using the pen name for a series of new […]
A New Pen Name for a New Project As some of you may remember from earlier in the year, I was on a writing and submitting spree. Novella’s, short stories, writing contests—I was on a writing rampage! And with some spicier romance novellas in the collection, I asked for your help picking a pen name, […]
The Inspiration Behind Emergency Exit The opening of Emergency Exit, book 3 of the Valkyrie Brothers series, was actually the first scene I wrote in the series. Ash Valkyrie sneaks into the building (because… reasons) via the service elevator and due to the loud vent system Harper Smoak has a misunderstanding about which party the […]
Plotting all the Plots Recently, I came across a call for a short story anthology focused on murder mysteries that took place in the workplace. However, the stipulation was that the death be dependent on that working situation. As a graphic designer, unless I accidentally stab my business partner to death with my college-era bone […]
What Are We Publishing? Publishing is always a bit of a game, but sometimes I feel more like I’m racking up publishing “points.” This year, I’ve found myself with some unexpectedly free writing time. I wrapped up writing the series I was working on (the Valkyrie Brothers) and I didn’t have a next grand project […]
When You Get Stuck Between Floors When I start writing a book, I often have a specific scene in mind. For Between Floors, book 2 of the Valkyrie Brothers series, I didn’t. I knew generally what the plot was and who my characters were, but I didn’t have the scene that locked me into the […]
What’s in a Pen Name? I recently have had the opportunity to submit to a dark romance anthology. For those that don’t know dark romance could be defined as a subgenre of romance that explores the messy, complicated, and sometimes twisted side of love and relationships. Dark romance is not my usual genre. A lot […]
A Trailer & More Recently, I’ve been working on some marketing items including a book trailer for Elevator Ride from my Valkyrie Brothers series. Creating a book trailer is a challenge! It’s like condensing the soul of an entire book into just a minute or less of video magic. The first hurdle? Finding the perfect […]