Justice, Grace, and a Death Row Case

Leading up to the release of The Bone Nest, I wanted to feature stories of the wrongly convicted and the men and women who fight for them. My first in the series highlights someone whose work has inspired me and helped shape the way I approached this novel. When I began writing The Bone Nest,Continue reading “Justice, Grace, and a Death Row Case”

A Woman of Many Voices: Interview with an Audiobook Narrator

On the eve of the audiobook release for A River of Crows (produced by Tantor Media), I thought it would be fun to share a behind the scenes look at the recording process. I reached out to the extremely talented narrator Jessica Marchbank (AKA Lu Banks), and she agreed to be interviewed for my blog.Continue reading “A Woman of Many Voices: Interview with an Audiobook Narrator”

Songs and Storytelling

Last week my husband and I watched the ACM awards and were glad to see Hardy and Lanie Wilson win an award for Music Event of the Year with their song, Wait in the Truck, a powerful story of domestic violence and vigilante justice. That got us talking about songs that tell great stories. NotContinue reading “Songs and Storytelling”

A River of Crows-Lone Star Literary Life Review

Very proud to share the latest editoral review courtesy  of Lone Star Literary Life. “It was cruel how tears never ran out. How the body was capable of producing them forever and ever and ever.” Parents and other adults are supposed to protect and nurture children, not use them as pawns or as a meansContinue reading “A River of Crows-Lone Star Literary Life Review”

Reflections on Year One

March 20th marks one year since Enemies of Doves was released! And what a year it’s been. Highs, lows, and everything in between. Looking back, I shake my head at how very little I knew about launching a book. I didn’t even take off work for my release date and had nothing scheduled for theContinue reading “Reflections on Year One”

Doves vs. Crows

While writing my debut novel, Enemies of Doves, I more or less had two moods: “This is really good!”“This is s#%!” I still have those two alternating and antithetical thoughts as I write A River of Crows. But since this is my second book, I have fun new doubts too: “Is this book as goodContinue reading “Doves vs. Crows”

The Post-Publication Blues

While I was writing Enemies of Doves, I had several authors warn me about the sadness that comes once the book is finished. After all, we’ve spent so long with our characters, it’s hard to say goodbye. While I did feel this to some extent, I was able to offset it with my quest toContinue reading “The Post-Publication Blues”

No Author is an Island

Writing is a solitary job. Eventually, you work with agents and editors to polish your book up, but the bulk of writing is done alone. As it is with most professions, the average person has no idea what goes into creating a book, or why it takes so long to do it. I recently hadContinue reading “No Author is an Island”

Making the Cover

Today I wanted to write about how the cover of Enemies of Doves came to be. A really cool benefit of working with a smaller publisher is that you get a lot of input on your cover art. I have a friend who is published with one of the big five publishers and he got his coverContinue reading “Making the Cover”

A Book With No Home?

As I’ve been working to market Enemies of Doves, I’ve been thinking a lot about genre. Genre is the style or category of any given book. It’s how bookstores and libraries know where to place the book, and where readers look to find their next great read. I think most readers stick to a favoriteContinue reading “A Book With No Home?”