“Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go,” went the old song. Merry, merry. No worries. The horse knows the way, the sleigh is heated. Grandma is perfect and nobody ever gets grumpy. Not so in my world. The grandmas were all lovely and worth visiting. It did seem, however, that… Read More
When I showed up for my first full-time shift in the emergency department, the official house of medicine had not yet recognized emergency medicine as a bona fide clinical specialty. Physicians often referred to the ER as “The Pit.” Required to maintain medical staff privileges, all doctors—regardless of training, knowledge, or experience—had to take their… Read More
Look, I understand that on-page sex in a romance novel isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. And thankfully, there are a plethora of “closed door” romances and every heat-level in between to indulge everyone’s different idea of the perfect romance. But, to me, taking the sex out of a romance novel would be like taking half… Read More
Although set in a secondary fantasy world, many aspects of LAST OF THE TALONS are heavily inspired by Korea. While worldbuilding, I looked to Korean culture to create a world in which a teenage assassin begins a violent game of cat and mouse with a Dokkaebi emperor. Unsurprisingly, one of the most important elements of… Read More
Well, here we are in the modern age. Forget Love in the Time of Cholera. Love in the time of Tinder has arrived. Suddenly we have dating profiles; we’re swiping left, and sliding into people’s DM’s. It’s efficient. But is it right? Love was once a drawn-out affair–an endeavor that found us hopeful. It made… Read More
Growing up in Minnesota, I’ve always loved autumn. The incredible fall colors. The wonderful scent of burning leaves (this memory probably dates me!) Riding my horse bareback down the road past sparkling streams and deep blue lakes, with most of the pesky flies and mosquitos gone. Such glorious times! The photo is of Tucker, with… Read More
Lyn Cote here–About the Mix-up at the Animal Shelter–In June we had to put our cat to sleep. V-8 (named for the engine) was 21+ years old and finally couldn’t walk and didn’t want to eat. I cried of course. He’d been a member of the family since 2003. We got him from the local… Read More
I’ve been writing for a long time—which is fun. I’ve had a lot of stories published—57 traditionally published books in fact, so far—some of which have been in series that are now ended. They include several mysteries series, such as my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, and my Pet Rescue Mysteries. Neither one is current. Yet,… Read More
By: Negeen Papehn I’m so happy to be on Writerspace again, discussing my newest release, Guarding Her Heart, with all of you. I fell in love with this sister duo the minute I put them on the page, and so it felt fitting to give little sister Niloo, her own story to tell. I’m hoping… Read More
One of my most requested recipes is one that my friend Aly from New Zealand often whips up in honor of blazing sunsets over the Pacific Ocean. In fact, this recipe inspired the name of the Seabreeze Inn novel, and in the story, Shelly Bay is often found mixing Sea Breeze coolers — virgin or fully loaded, as… Read More
Hi, Everyone! Thank you so much to Writerspace for featuring CROSSING THE LINE! Before we jump into our love of developing and writing secondary characters, we wanted to let you know there’s a giveaway! Woot woot! You can find all of the details at the bottom of this post. When writing IN THE PENALTY BOX,… Read More
When I started putting together my new fantasy trilogy, I knew I wanted to incorporate fairytales. Rather than a faithful retelling I wanted to touch on elements from several fairytales and make them my own for my characters and their world. I also wanted to pull in lesser known fairytales, which is when I started… Read More
Besides love? More book clubs! When I first came up with my idea for THE BEST LIFE BOOK CLUB, I thought I was being so original, so clever. A book about a book club – yes! And then, after I’d surfaced from my writing cave back into the sunlight, I blinked and saw… all kinds… Read More
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