Author Archives

I formerly had a boss at my librarian job who taught me a most valuable lesson and that lesson was to enjoy my job.  She taught me this lesson by setting an example by enjoying her own work and by continually asking me if I was having fun in

Most people have had the experience of reading a book and having that book stay with them well after they have finished it.  This after-feeling is something that can keep a reader thinking about a book and wanting more from the particular author

The Greco family is, in ways, beyond mildly dysfunctional, for the patriarch of this family is a severe alcoholic.  Frank’s alcoholism has profound effects upon all of the family members.  It affects them both individually and as a group.  Each

Artists who wait for inspiration to strike spend a lot of time waiting.  I know this because I was formerly such an artist.  I believed that I should not force my writing, but that I should let it come to me naturally.  I thought that discipline

If characters had nothing to struggle against, they would stay the same.  They wouldn’t transform and grow and arc.  A character changes because she is either in conflict against another person, or herself or the world.  In Olive Branches

When I got my first negative review, I was devastated and angry.  It was not from any sort of professional or semi-professional book reviewer, or even a person who had several reviews already on Amazon.  In fact, there was only one other review

In several reviews of my book, readers mentioned that they were invested in the novels characters’ and that they really cared about what happened to them.  This feeling of concern is what motivates readers to stay with a book and to turn the

Dialogue reveals an abundance of information about characters:   Their  thoughts, motivations, personality, strengths, weaknesses, desires, dislikes, etc.  So writing good dialogue is crucial in creating a good novel. Dialogue should be natural

In Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, Frank’s relentless search for a missing frying pan acts as an extended metaphor for Silvia’s relentless search for a perfect place.  I am a big fan of this particular literary device, which is a metaphor

All people– writers and non-writers– are storytellers.  We tell ourselves stories each and every day and the stories that we tell ourselves shape our perceptions of the world in which we live.  I’ve become keenly aware of the