Brilliant

Box Office

The List

As much as I love books that take me to new and exotic locations, sometimes the best stories are the ones set close to home. I’m often drawn to books that take place in my region because I can settle into them and really enjoy them. I can easily visualize the landscape and hear the familiar drawls and brogues of Coastal Carolina. I’m a North Carolina girl all the way from the saltwater in my veins to my darlin’ Southern accent.

Author By Night

What I Do For Love

After a busy day at work, I love to go home and kill people. Kidnapping, murder, blackmail, and larceny are my stock in trade. Of course, through great courage, wit, sacrifice, and faith, the good guys always take down the bad guys.

Yes, I’m a writer. My specialty is novels of mystery and suspense . . . but I haven’t quit my day job. I’m a dual-career woman.

Write Real

Write in Obscurity

Before you ever write a word in print, it’s important not to despise obscurity. I’ve written in journals for twenty-six years, recording silly things like which boy I liked in seventh grade or my misgivings about moving. When I became a Christian at fifteen, my journal became a place where I could pray, lament, study, and ponder spiritual questions. Because I’ve always been in the habit of writing, it has not been hard to establish a daily writing routine.

Making A Scene

Symbolism In Fiction - Part I

Symbolism is often a vague, esoteric aspect of fiction. We novelists hear about it, but we can’t quite define it, much less know how to use it. So let’s talk a bit about what symbolism is, how we can study its use in others’ works, and how we might apply it to our own novels.

By the way, symbolism may also be called “imagery” or a story’s “image system.”

For Writers

When Acquisitions Editors Don’t Want What You Write

Belief. Positive or negative, we all have it.

In spite of stories constantly spinning in my mind, I didn’t believe becoming published was feasible, and I didn’t want to take time away from my family and friends to pursue something that wasn’t feasible.

But time has unexpected ways of demanding we follow our hearts.

Short Stories

A bell jingled as I walked through the door into the dim diner. An old screen door squealed behind me and shut with a bang. Nobody’s going to sneak up on these folks.

Last time we caught up with Stinky Nate, he’d impulsively hopped a city bus to Roseville in search of his true “roots.”