Continued Incubation

I had planned to be busily working on my second novel by the time this post was written, but alas, life intervened, and current family drama has temporarily extinguished any embracing of my normally bright, creative light. (How’s that for humble?) To write the second...

Pause for the cause

Two days ago, I completed the narrative outline for Book Two of my mystery series. Yep, that’s right: It’s finished! The outline ended up being 18 single-spaced pages and right around 9,000 words. As in Book One, there will be 20 chapters, which may or may not end in...

Characters Defined

Those Chinese characters in the picture next to this post are two-dimensional. My mystery novel characters, on the other hand, must be totally fleshed out and vibrantly alive. Because they’re not just characters, they’re my new best friends. They say to write what you...

The “O” Word

No, not THAT “O” word! I’m talking about the “O” word that strikes terror into most mortal human beings who somehow managed to survive High School English. I’m talking about Outlining! I’m here to tell you that outlining has been...

Compiling Notes, Creating Characters

In the interim between completing Book One and now, I’ve been making little notations about interesting and entertaining people, places, and things I’d like to work into a second book. I can be otherwise engaged in a seemingly unconnected activity, when...