The Impostors

/
The Impostors

I know I'm frequently talking about Twitter, but this time, I wanted to give everyone a little PSA about Facebook. Odds are if you've been on Facebook for more than a month or so you've had this happen to you.

You get a friend request from someone that you could just swear you're already friends with. On the surface this account looks like your friend's. It's got his/her picture, and name, and might even have already roped in some mutual friends. Maybe even a couple of extra snapshots. But that's where the similarities end.

Read More

Tweeting Success: Party Fouls

/
Tweeting Success: Party Fouls

In my last post on Tweeting Success, we talked about building your following. I suggested that you treat Twitter like a great big cocktail party. So, you and your author friends have split up to mingle with whatever readers you can find. You have pointed your pinchy shoes toward a cluster of potential readers and have decided to introduce yourself. Before you get going we should talk a bit about some DON’Ts of Twitter behavior.

Read More

So, about that Google Translate for Scots Gaelic

/
So, about that Google Translate for Scots Gaelic

I should start by saying that it’s GREAT that Google Translate added Scots Gaelic to its list of languages. Seriously! At a time when Gaelic speakers/learners are fighting to save the language, or sometimes just convince people that it’s a living language and not a historical artifact it’s a big step forward to have Google deem it worth the programming needed to create something like this. And that’s A LOT of programming. Rosetta Stone hasn’t felt that it was worthwhile to offer their software in Gaelic, they even dropped their Welsh program years ago. So, should you add Google Translate to your list of Gaelic learning resources, use it to translate some key phrases for that great highland romance novel you’re writing, translate a favorite motto of yours for a Gaelic tattoo? Not so fast.

Read More

Tweeting Success: Who to Engage

/
Tweeting Success: Who to Engage

I find that it’s best to think of Twitter as a big cocktail party. People are milling around in groups usually based on their interests, political leanings, and sometimes based on whatever they’re trying to sell. They’re usually putting their best face forward, though occasionally some of them imbibe too much and/or put their feet in their mouths.

Then you, the writer, walk in. Your dress shoes are already pinching or rubbing your heels. You try to unobtrusively smooth down the slightly rumpled dress or sport coat that you fished out of the back of your closet when you heard that this was a party you just couldn't miss. You grab a drink from a passing waiter and look around for some friendly faces.

Read More

Thank you, Harper Lee

/
Thank you, Harper Lee

As a girl, I spent large chunks of my summer at my grandparents' houses in small towns in North Carolina. Wearing flip flops (if any shoes at all) and playing with my brother and cousins outside among the pine needles and cat tails and sandy soil. We weren't that different in those summers from the Finch kids. And when I read To Kill a Mockingbird as a teenager, I felt like it was written just for me; a book about a Southern girl barefoot and curious, starting to navigate the more complicated aspects of life.

Read More

New Year Update

/

There are only a few hours left to get The River Maiden for .99! This is probably the last time that I will be discounting it before the pre-order period for Cauldron begins. Don't miss your chance.

I am making good headway on Cauldron, and seem to be on track for a late spring/early summer release. However, much of that will depend on my editor's schedule as well as mine. So, keep your fingers crossed.

Read More

Because life sometimes

/
Because life sometimes

October is my favorite month because every year it seems to be busy with some of my favorite things; Celtic festivals, writer's conferences, birthdays and visiting friends. Plus leaves start turning, weather gets cooler and everything is great. This October however was NOT what I had hoped for.

Like a crazy person, I thought I had a chance of finishing a draft for Cauldron in October. I don't think there is that much left to write, and I was (and still am) looking forward to exorcising this particular plot from my brain. Unfortunately, this October it seemed that life was conspiring to thwart me.

Read More