About the Blog

"So, you're a writer..."

That conversation killing statement was what led me to start this blog back in early 2011. Once I finally owned up to my pursuit of publication, it came up all the time with family and friends—even people I'd just met. Some said it with genuine interest, others with obvious disdain, but I always met it with the same trailing answer, "Yeah..."

What could I have said to them? That, at the time, I had my manuscript out with three critique partners? That I was knee-deep in agent research? Of course not, because that would bring on a whole other slew of questions I wasn't prepared to answer. I needed to find other writers facing similarly awkward situations. I needed to commiserate with my peers while I was learning the ropes. I had no clue what I was in for.

Fast forward to today. I'm a multi-published, award-winning author (who apparently loves hyphens) with all of the community support I could ever hope for. The blogosphere has been a wonderful, nurturing environment for me over the years, so now I'm doing my best to give back.

Latest Project

I just finished a disaster / romantic suspense novel.  Next up, a graphic novel!

Schedule

The first Wednesday of every month for IWSG, with other posts falling as my schedule allows.

Regular Features

  • I have a business/marketing background, so I love translating that experience to the book world. Anything I can do to help you get in the game, so to speak, I will. Marketing doesn't have to be scary!
  • I own a graphic design business, so you'll also see posts from a visual perspective.
  • Last, but not least, we have writing craft posts. Nothing generates word of mouth faster than a quality product—except maybe a really juicy scandal. Let's avoid the latter.

Occasional Features

  • Sometimes guests stop by to enlighten or entertain us. Topics vary!
  • Every month or so, I'll try to do a round-up of community cover reveals or book releases given to me. According to the survey data, you guys preferred these types of posts less frequently.
  • And of course, I'm an author, too. I'll keep you updated on my career as best I can, but most of that news will be directed toward my newsletter.

Platform Update

After much deliberation, I’m back to Weebly’s blog platform.

I know, I know. I’m committing a whole host of Internet sins by switching back and forth, confusing--and subsequently losing--my audience, but it’s taken some trial and error to figure out what’s going to work moving forward. You see, I used Blogger 2011-2015. It was great, but I wanted my online presence more centralized.

When Weebly (my website host) adopted a blog feature, I jumped onboard. Unfortunately, the comment options have been less than stellar. The in-house system didn’t work for everyone, so I tried Disqus. That required registration and ended up being buggy, so yeah. No-go on that one. At one point, I even embedded my Blogger in a frame on my Weebly site. I was that desperate.

Sadly, it was a hassle and caused unnecessary scrolling, so I went back to Weebly’s blog platform with Facebook comments turned on. I wanted to avoid this, because I know some of you (like Alex) avoid Facebook, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.