It’s been a long day of writing blogs, so I’ve gotten a bit punchy. What does that mean for you? YOU GET THE FUN BLOG!!!! Yes, the later it gets, the more bizarre I get. So we’re going to do some multiple choice about my book WHAT THE GROOM WANTS alternating with JADE LEE TRIVIA! 1. Radley (the hero of WHAT THE GROOM WANTS) is looking forward to a bright career as captain of his own ship when he steps off the boat and (a) is met by solicitors who tell him he’s suddenly become a duke! (Because that always happens) (b) celebrates his promotion with a dozen prostitutes of questionable age and gender. (c) rushes to Wendy’s house (she’s the heroine) and drags her to his loveshack where he makes mad, passionate love to her for 800 pages. (d) looks at the author and says, “Truly were you drunk when you wrote this?” Answer: D! Okay, A because soon after he steps off the boat, yes he’s told that he’s inherited a dukedom. 2. Jade Lee has multiple names and personalities. Which ones of the following are true: (a) She’s porn star Jade Lee and don’t you forget it!…

 “New York Times” Bestselling mystery author Joanne Fluke would like to invite you to join her for a dessert reception in celebration of her newest Hannah Swenson mystery,  “The Blackberry Pie Murder.” On Thursday, March 6th from 6-8pm we are turning the beautiful Chocolate Angel Café and Tearoom in Plano into Hannah’s bakery, where recipes from Mrs. Fluke’s award-winning series will be served. Try a delicious mini blackberry pie, a gooey cinnamon roll, and a slice of delectable red velvet cake while Joanne talks about her series and signs copies of “The Blackberry Pie Murder.” A suggested donation of $35 covers the cost of the desserts and a copy of “The Blackberry Pie Murder” for you to take home. Space is limited, so please RSVP to Gwen Reyes at 972-741-0988972-741-0988 or [email protected] to secure your spot at the Joanne Fluke Dessert Reception.

The people of medieval Europe sometimes seem as if they are from another planet, their world view is so radically different from our own. How could people have had such blind faith, asked so few questions, expected so little of life, been satisfied with only the hope of heaven? It’s hard to imagine writing a compelling story populated only by docile, unimaginative people, and I am happy to report it is completely unnecessary to try. However valid the above generalizations may be, there was enough independence of thought and action in the Middle Ages to provide fertile ground for historical novelists. Vicki Leon has done a great service by compiling hundreds of profiles of “Uppity Women” for her series by that name. Although the protagonist of my new novel, THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER (Sourcebooks, March 2014) is not one of Leon’s heroines because she is my invention, knowing that such women existed gave me a greater degree of license to create a woman who was doing more than stereotypical things like cooking gruel, making crone-like remarks, darning old socks, and dying in childbirth. Jewish matriarch Amalia Cresques makes many courageous choices during the course of her long life, decisions she recounts…

I admit it … I’m not a tidy person. It’s not in my nature. I don’t have a tidy mind. I certainly don’t have a tidy office. I find an empty desk and a neat office scary! Honestly, my brain freezes if there is too much tidiness! I like stuff and I like it around me. I like things on the wall, things on the shelves, my working tools on my desk and a cat or two lazing in the sun to top things off (although preferably not on my work!). I like photos and books and trinkets and my collections of penguins, Moomins, hockey memorabilia and autographs. I like cards I’ve been sent, my book covers and writing awards, gifts my family or friends have made me or that the kids I used to teach gave me. Everything in my office makes me smile and I’m sure it gives me some kind of positive energy for my work. People think that because I’m not tidy, I’m also disorganised. I like to say that I’m untidily organised. There is a method to the clutter and I know where things are. A place for everything and everything in its place –…

As I writer, I use music all the time to help me set a scene. It’s critical because, let’s face it, I’m often writing alone while still in my jammies, hair sticking up and wearing a non-flattering, fluffy pink housecoat. Yep. Pretty glamorous. So, imagine trying to write a really angsty or emotional scene while your kitten is all snuggled up in your lap, cozy-like. Or, trying to write a sexually charged scene while your kids watch Sponge Bob in the other room. It’s not going to happen. What I have to do is pop in my ear buds, find an appropriate song and play it – over and over and over again until it consumes me. If it’s an upbeat scene, I listen to dance music with a fast tempo, catchy lyrics and repetitive chords. Sometimes I even have to get up and dance around for before sitting down to write (this is not pretty – thank God I do it in the privacy of my own home). The slower tempo of ballads accompanied by acoustic guitars and pianos evoke the kind of sadness and melancholy I need to write heartbreak/achy scenes. And, the screaming electric guitars and frenzied…