As a book editor, I’m always asking writers to add some Christmas scents to Christmas stories… The scents of the season are such a great way to evoke a happy or nostalgic mood. Smells from our past, and especially Christmas scents, trigger memories so strongly that they can make us feel as though we’ve been transported back in time.
A word of the year sums up your wishes, hopes, and intentions. When you choose a word of the year, you’re choosing a vision for the year to come. I have 150 ideas for power words here, including 50 words that describe roles. I’ve updated this for 2026! Those words are at the end, if you want to skip ahead!
“Can you start a novel with dialogue?” is a question I’ve been asked three times in the past month, so I thought I’d blog about it! There are many bits of popular advice floating around the writing community, and “never start a novel with a line of dialogue” is one of them. Of course, when it comes to writing, when
There are several great cozy mystery publishers with open submissions. In fact, you can submit to a few of the biggest cozy mystery publishers without an agent! Now, there are a lot of great reasons to have an agent. I’m certainly grateful for mine. And many cozy authors do very well with the self-publishing route! But because everyone’s path is
Do you know when I last watched the TV show Friends? Last Thursday. Four days ago. I watch it all the time. A year or two will go by where I don’t watch it, and then I’m back on it again. The show makes me happy. There are a few things that haven’t worn well, but the good things about
Hi friends! I had a rough week last week, and a good week this week. 🙂 Welcome to my Friday recap! Here’s what’s been going on. I Decided I Really Need to Make Chicago Friends. Obviously, I don’t get too lonely, living with my husband and three rescue dogs. I do have family in town, too; I’m more often the