Oscar Loves a Hot Mess Girlfriend

So yesterday I was talking with a friend on social media about Margot Robbie not receiving an Oscar nomination as Best Actress for playing Barbie. And I fired off an offhand opinion that the Academy is way more interested in and has way more respect for female characters in pain and misery on a downward

RIP, Mainstream Publishing. You Hardly Knew Us

It’s been a minute since I wrote a blog post, but I saw this article on a dear friend’s Facebook wall this morning, and rather than rant and rave there, I figured I’d come do it in my own space. Basically, an Emory professor, Dan Sinykin, has written a book called Big Fiction about how

WIP: A Sneak Peek at Wollstonecraft

My current WIP is a gothic horror novel built on the foundation of the real life of Mary Godwin Shelley. This chapter happens when Mary is 15 years old, a few months before she met Percy Shelley. She’s visiting the home of one of her father’s pen pals, a Scotsman named Baxter, who has a

Help Me Help You (The Editorial Process Part 2)

In my last post, I wrote about the editorial process and why it takes so long, and I promised that the next one would be suggestions and strategies writers can use to make that process go more smoothly and, hopefully, a little bit faster. In the interim, I have finished up edits on one big

What Is Your Editor Doing?

… when she’s not editing your book? Like every writer I’ve ever known or heard tell of, I’m a fretful ball of nerves every time I send in a manuscript. Back in days of yore when I was writing my first books on stone tablets and had never edited anyone else in my life, I

Happy Midsummer Night!

In honor of the shortest night of the year, a little snippet from my story “Midwinter” from Eat the Peach. And oh yeah, it’s pretty racy stuff, so consider yourself warned. from “Midwinter” In the cold, dark night before the shortest day, the priestess Alena dreamed of summer. She was a maiden again, one of

I don’t even know what to title this …

I wrote this story way back in 2012 the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. I was a different writer then and a different person–younger, more hopeful, less angry, more easily bruised. Writing it gave me comfort, and I hope reading it can still comfort someone else. But every time this happens, I

The Princess and the Peonies – sneak peek!

So you know how Stella has been engaged to George Barrington since the end of Guinevere’s Revenge? Well, in Stella 4, The Princess and the Peonies, they finally cross the finish line. In more ways than one. But don’t let me spoil it for you. How about a sneak peek at Chapter 1? _____________________________________________________ Stella

10 Great Romances from 31 Days of Oscar

All I want to do these days is stay home and watch Turner Classic Movies – it’s 31 Days of Oscar month! As you could probably guess even if I didn’t talk about it all the time, I am an absolute sucker for old movies. And looking over this year’s schedule, I’m realizing just how

Brown Butter Ginger Snaps

‘Tis the season for sharing time-honored family recipes, and I have a bunch of those–my grandmother’s fruitcake, my mom’s snowball cookies, the obligatory Southern woman’s cheese straws. But this year I’ve decided I’m not going to bake as much. I’ve got so much else to do, and frankly, y’all, I’m tired. So I tried to