On Facebook, a question was posed to me: How many of your characters have traits or personalities of “real” people you know? Let me take the long way around to answer that question. Often at autographings, after I’ve thanked a reader for coming to the bookstore to meet me, shaken her hand, signed her books,… Read More

We talk to our computers, our dogs, our cats and our fictional characters. We’re not so good with real people.  The opportunity to use funny-sounding words thrills us. Words like akimbo, catawampus, gobsmacked. When someone says something witty or wise, we remember and someday it will reappear in a manuscript. Authors collect names: people names,… Read More