How’s the Writing Going?

I found this on Rachel's blog, and it looked like fun so I'm going to do it too. 🙂 Right now, I'm working on the next book in my Tudor Throne series  (book one is out next week!), which takes place in the Welsh Marches and follows the thread of Sir Richard, Margaret Pole, Lady...

Book Cover Reveal / Early Reviewers Wanted

Some of you may have been wondering why book-release-wise, I was so quiet over the last couple of years. I was wrangling a massive idea! This past year has been delightful but also stressful, as I wrote and rewrote several versions of a novel that originally intended to cover ten years, then a year, and...

Know Thyself

How much does environment impact your mood?

Short Story: Wiggins’ Christmas

Mom kept pestering me to write a Sherlock Holmes short story about the Baker Street Irregulars. I gifted this to her for Christmas this year. Snow pummels the high street, dampening the back of my tattered trousers, the hole in my left boot sticking to wet cobblestones. I slip on uneven ground, catch myself, and...

The Monster of Ego

It takes a degree of open-mindedness to even be willing to change your mind.

221 B Baker Street Correspondence

Dear Readers, It is with utmost regret that I inform you that Charity is currently buried under a mountain of volumes, which she insisted upon piling in an enormous stack to “prove” how much research she is doing on her novels. I warned her of the high probability the pile would collapse on top of...

The Depth in The Shallows

Have you ever seen a movie you can’t stop thinking about? It doesn’t even have to be a deep, insightful experience, but sticks with you for days. I’m like that about The Shallows, a survival film where a girl is stranded two hundred yards from shore circled by a shark. She must rely on her...

Things That Give Us Joy

Recently, I read Marie Kondo’s book on de-cluttering. She said keep only things that give you “joy.” I started to think beyond desk drawers. Much in life is optional. Some things don’t give me joy (like cleaning the cat box) but I must do them. Those are non-optional. So, why do I clutter my life...

The Historical Writer’s Oath

One of my major pet peeves is literary licenses taken with historical figures in serious historical literature. (I do not consider “speculative fiction” serious historical literature or any story where a historical figure is dealing with zombies, vampires, or magic; these stories are obvious fiction and never confused by a casual reader for the truth.)...