writing

Christina Dodd confesses THE 10 REASONS AUTHORS ARE WEIRD

on February 27, 2016

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


Christina Dodd Talks About HER FUNNIEST MISTAKES

on February 8, 2016

February 2, 2024 is the thirty-fourth anniversary of the day I got The Call that my first book had been purchased by a very astute editor. The time was 3:30 pm, not that I noticed. (I’m kidding. I definitely noticed.) On March 7, 2023, my 60th full-length suspense, EVERY SINGLE SECRET, will be published in… Read More


Christina Dodd TELLS YOU THE GUILTY SECRET TO WRITING A BOOK

on October 14, 2015

Do you want to write a book? Then you need to know the one, really important (and guilty) secret that will help you get published. Brace yourself. Here it comes … You need to read. A lot. I was appalled when I read this statistic: Stat: Eighty percent of Americans want to write a book, but… Read More


Christina Dodd on Friends, Enemies and Writing

on November 20, 2014

I was once asked to write a chapter for HOW TO WRITE A ROMANCE, the book Romance Writers of America published in conjunction with Writer’s Digest. As a subject for me, they suggested Selling A Book Can Change Your Life. I burst into laughter. I called my published friends. I read them the subject. Each… Read More


Christina Dodd Lights A Candle In The Window

on August 8, 2014

A lot of you know (if you’ve read my bio or heard me speak) that before I was published I spent ten years writing and not-writing and making excuses and writing badly and very slowly and not-writing some more and whining and writing for six years on a really awful, long, dreadful historical, then on… Read More


Christina Dodd and the Infamous Three-Armed Cover

on July 22, 2014

  ON THE OTHER HAND … Every writer faces a moment in her career when she realizes that a good part of success has nothing to do with writing skill or career planning, and everything to do with pure, dumb luck. For me, that moment arrived at a conference in St. Louis in 1993 when… Read More


Christina Dodd Tells You THE BEST WAY TO WRITE A BOOK

on June 4, 2014

Writers and readers often ask me my method of writing a book. And I always say with great assurance, “It depends.” You’d think I know the best way to write. I’ve completed sixty-three full-length books — that includes the two that I wrote that weren’t published,  my newest suspense thriller, EVERY SINGLE SECRET and the next… Read More


Christina Dodd Answers The Question, “Where Do You Get Your Ideas?”

on February 20, 2013

The most frequently asked question from my dedicated readers is — Where do you get your ideas? I have published fifty-seven full-length novels: historical, suspense, and paranormal and, (let me be precise about this) a lot of short stories and novellas. So obviously, ideas are out there and I find them. To explain the process, let’s start… Read More


Christina Dodd Buys The Plot For Trouble In High Heels At Wal-Mart!

on June 8, 2012

Sure! Didn’t you know? “Ideas for sale.” They’re on the aisle right between the dog food and the service desk. Okay, maybe not, but it did start that way. I needed a plot for the first book my new contemporary romantic suspense series, so I did what I always do when I should sit down… Read More


Christina Dodd Discusses The Nuts And Bolts Of Writing Sex

on June 8, 2012

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF WRITING SEX. Heh, heh. See?  You already know the first difficulty in writing a sex scene. When you’re writing sex, the chances that you’re going to say something inadvertently funny are huge. Every time I write a sentence like, He slid his woody into her hoo-haw, I realize a lot… Read More