Articles

Dec 9, 2013 Writing Teen Romance

Location, Location, Location

I belong to a few different chapters of the Romance Writer's of America. My novel, FORBIDDEN SECRETS, is a young adult romance with a paranormal twist on Scottish history, so in addition to belonging to the Young Adult Chapter of RWA, I also belong to the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA. Today I'm guest blogging over at FF&P about the importance of an author's writing space and how a change of scenery can benefit your writing. Please drop by and say hi.

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Dec 5, 2013 Things I Love

Sharing Some Love for “I See Fire”

I’m a little late posting this…. But still wanted to share some new music love for one of my favorite artists Ed Sheerann. (By the way – thanks to BBC Radio Scotland -- I knew of Ed Sheeran in 2011 -- waaaay before he was being played on US stations and started touring with Taylor Swift. Check out my Ed Sheeran Brit Artist of the Week blog post from February 2012.) So I was super excited to hear his new track “I See Fire” played on BBC1 a few weeks ago. This song will be featured in the latest

Dec 3, 2013 My DrEaMwOrLd

Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was proposed to in Paris, so Paris holds a special place in my heart and I tend to agree (yes, I'm partial) that it is one of the most romantic cities in the world. With that disclaimer out of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Anna was totally relatable as a teen who is uprooted her senior year and whisked away to boarding school in a country where she doesn't even speak the language. The story spans her senior year

Nov 27, 2013 Writing Teen Romance

This thing is giving me fits

The thing I’m referring to is my latest manuscript. (Yes it’s a teen romance – because that’s all I write.) I’ve been so excited about working on it, but the sizzle is staring to fizzle. It’s like a puzzle. I know I have all the parts, but this puzzle has more than one way to solve the darned thing. I’ve outlined the story. All the plot points are working together so the story makes sense. But with quite a few chapters written, I’ve found a scene where the heroine (Callie) has a heart-to-heart

Nov 22, 2013 Things I Love

The Fergie Blitz

Fergie (aka @FergiePaws) is our almost two-year old Portuguese Water Dog. She’s a bundle of energy and fun. Yesterday morning while I was on a conference call she decided to do her morning blitz. Here’s a wonderful example of the Fergie Blitz: So this is what she's doing while I'm on my conference call, and it's my turn to speak. Uggh!! Luckily I work with people who have a great sense of humor and just laugh when it sounds like the carpet is being ripped up by Fergie racing circles between my

Nov 20, 2013 My DrEaMwOrLd

Review: Carter Finally Gets It

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford My rating: 4 of 5 stars I listened to this on audiobook and holy awesome narrator!! (One of the best I've ever heard.) He totally brought the character of Carter to life and the voices he used for the other characters were great. With that said, this story is hilarious! I even shed a few tears in a couple spots. Carter is a character you just have to cheer for and although he is 14 year old hormonally charged teen, he's totally relatable and most of all,

Nov 18, 2013 All Things British

The 1975

Uhmmmm – I love this self titled album by the UK group The 1975!! They’ve got a fun, indie-pop sound with catchy beats you’ll want to put on shuffle and crank up the volume. There are sixteen tracks and I like just about every single one. You can listen to most of the album on their SoundCloud, but here’s one of my favorite tracks. (I had a hard time picking just one!!) This is… Settle Down. Do you like? They're touring the US!! Go to their site and you can get a free download of You and see the

Nov 13, 2013 Running

Not quite one and done

After six weeks of mostly solid training post-strained-hamstring recovery and I successfully completed my first half marathon. My main goal was to finish in under 2:00 and I DID IT!!! My stretch goal was to run under 1:45. With my training runs around 8 minute pace, it shouldn’t have been a stretch, but given my longest run was a ten miler, foremost in my mind at the start was to not go out too fast because thirteen miles was unchartered territory for me and a heck of a L-O-N-G way! Officially I

Nov 12, 2013 Things I Love

11-12-13

I just think it’s cool how the calendar has lined up these numbers today. Maybe it’s because I have this thing about numbers and order and symmetry. Or perhaps it’s a little of my OCD tendencies. No matter – all day long I’ll be smiling whenever I write or type today’s date. Yes – I am easily amused, and proud of it.