Boots Under Her Bed

Callie has done a lot of crazy things, but it’ll take one more to prove she isn’t nuts: find a husband, fast! I wanted to open my story with a girl, Callie, who is desperate to marry, so desperate that she’ll do anything to find a husband.  So the story opens with Callie and her… Read More

Ten Tips For Living With A Writer

Probably my most memorable moment during the writing of THE LION AND THE ROSE came along one evening when my husband arrived home from work, only to be greeted by a distracted and wild-eyed wife rushing down from her study. “Hi,” I said breathlessly, “do you mind starting dinner? I’ve got a guy roped to… Read More

9 Weather or Not We’re Ready, Here it Comes

This year’s weather can only be described as one thing: cray-cray. Seriously, I’ve never seen things so completely messed up. Yesterday it was 70 degrees, with perfect blue skies.  Absolutely magnificent deck-enjoying conditions. I sat, I contemplated, I napped. It was all very Zen. Today, it was overcast and 15 degrees, with a strong, bone-chilling… Read More

22 How To Give Yourself A Massive Headache

There I was, circa 2009, with a finished manuscript. Not my first, but close enough. I was giddy with excitement. I’d written the majority of it during maternity leave and while parenting a newborn, even writing at 2am with one hand while feeding the child with the other. But what to do now with this… Read More

9 The Romance of Urban Fantasy

Writing romance into a thriller, without letting it take over completely, is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Romance is addictive, we all know it, we all live with the need for it, we all want it for ourselves, and we all want our favorite heroine to get lucky, get happy, and get connected in… Read More

Haunted Places

My new ghost story trilogy (the third, Happy Medium is now available from Berkley Intermix at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) takes place in a very spooky place: the King William District of San Antonio. San Antonio itself is full of places that are supposed to be haunted—I mean, the Alamo is in the center… Read More

4 Your Favorite Thing about Reading

What is your favorite thing about reading? For some people, it’s the ability to escape from where they are to another place they’d rather be. Some people think of reading as growing and learning. Still others just enjoy the pictures that play through their minds as the words flow across the pages. Whatever type of… Read More

SUPER STAR: Why isn’t that Who You Are?

This weekend I saw Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Watching Chris Pine up there on the big screen reminded me of something I’ve wondered about for several years now: how do you know when an actor is going to hit it big? I first noticed Mr. Pine back in 2009 when he originally played Captain Kirk… Read More

Speakeasy Love

Some of you may already know my work through the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series from Pocket Books. But this month the first book in my new historical paranormal romance series was released, BITTER SPIRITS. Having garnered starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Booklist—and a Top Pick in RT Book Reviews—the book is about… Read More

Writing the End of Days – Post Apocalyptic Romance

In celebration of the print release of Mayan Inferno, I thought we’d talk about the End of Days, apocalypse, the rapture, Armageddon, the final battle, holocaust, showdown between good and evil. Call it whatever you like, every race and religion has some version of the end of the world as we know it. I went… Read More

1 The Making Of Lucky Harbor

I am a pop culture ‘ho. I inhale TV, People Magazine, and TMZ with equal joy. Same goes for movies. My favorite part of any DVD is always the special features, specifically the Making Of extra, and I like to create the same with my own books. So consider this the Making Of edition of… Read More

8 No Choice But to Trust Him

In THE ESCAPE, Book 2 in the Pulse Trilogy, Jenna has been living on the Tracks at the FEMA camp in Grand Central Terminal, prostituting herself to the soldiers just to stay alive. She knows she can’t trust anyone but herself. So when she finally escapes, and then is captured by a soldier intent on… Read More