All right, so I was only seven in 1966 — not a child of the sixties, but a child in the sixties. And I wasn’t one of those kids who knew about popular music. I spent most of my early years in the small Texas town of San Marcos, hardly on the cutting edge of pop culture. Music came to me in a spotty, haphazard and completely disjointed way, and it wasn’t until a few years ago, when I started writing the novel MONDAY, MONDAY, a novel that begins in 1966, that I found I had suddenly tapped into one of the richest veins in American music. I was, of course, a few decades behind everyone else. I had arrived at the sixties in my fifties. It’s not that music was unimportant to me as a kid: I liked singing. I sang along to Burl Ives records. I could sing as loud as the next kid. I remember standing shoulder to shoulder with other children on small bleachers in a small room at Crockett Elementary, belting out a song in French that none of us knew the meaning of. I thought the words were “Allawetta, John T. Allawetta.” My dad was a…

My friend Sharon and I sat watching the televised news conference of a political candidate I liked. The man had been accused of having an affair. Standing in front of reporters, he denied the campaign-ending allegations. I wanted to believe him. My friend knew better. Sharon Smith is a retired FBI agent and a forensic psycholinguist. She studies language, the words people use, in the context of criminal investigations. Detecting deception, analyzing kidnappers’ notes, and assessing threats are just a few of the areas in which she applies her specialized knowledge. What tipped her off that the politician was lying? Body language does sometimes provide clues to what a person is thinking, but more recent studies have shown words are more reliable indicators of what’s going on inside. For example, the use of qualifiers like “sort of,” “kind of,” and “possibly” indicate a suspect is backing away from the truth. A man suspected of killing his girlfriend may admit that he was “sort of” angry with her when neighbors heard the fight. These “minimal descriptors” also include words like “I believe” and “probably”. Not answering directly is also a clear red flag. For example, when an investigator says, “Did you…

Fresh Pick for Sunday, June 15th, 2014 is UNDETECTED by Dee Henderson Sunday Suspense reading Bethany House Publishers May 2014 On Sale: April 29, 2014 480 pages ISBN: 0764212435 EAN: 9780764212437 Kindle: B00GHXRVOM Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Suspense Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Undetected by Dee Henderson When asked what he does for a living . . . Commander Mark Bishop is deliberately low-key: “I’m in the Navy.” But commanding the ballistic missile submarine USS Nevada, keeping her crew trained and alert during ninety-day submerged patrols, and being prepared to launch weapons on valid presidential orders, carries a burden of command like few other jobs in the military. Mark Bishop is a man who accepts that responsibility, and handles it well. And at a time when tensions are escalating around the Pacific Rim, the Navy is glad to have him. Mark wants someone to come home to after sea patrols. The woman he has in mind is young, with a lovely smile, and very smart. She’s a civilian, yet she understands the U.S. Navy culture. And he has a strong sense that life with her would never be boring. But she may be…

Fresh Pick for Friday, June 13th, 2014 is HANNAH’S COURTSHIP by Emma Miller #InspirationFriday Second Chance Love Hannah’s Daughters 8 Harlequin Love Inspired May 2014 On Sale: May 18, 2014 220 pages ISBN: 0373878893 EAN: 9780373878895 Kindle: B00HAZ5CO2 Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Inspirational Fiction, Romance Series Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Hannah’s Courtship by Emma Miller Second Chance At Love Amish widow Hannah Yoder never intended to marry again. Yet when her friendship with veterinarian Albert Hartman begins to bloom into something more, Hannah wonders if perhaps she’s finally ready for a new love. Albert waited his whole life to find the right woman, only to realize Hannah was there all along. But there’s more than their friendship to consider. Albert is a Mennonite, born-and-bred, and Hannah cannot—will not—leave her Amish faith, not even for him. Does Albert have the courage to give up his modern life for Hannah…and will Hannah have the courage to let him? Hannah’s Daughters: Seeking love, family and faith in Amish country. Mature people go courting too in ths charming Amish romance Previous Picks

Fresh Pick for Thursday, June 12th, 2014 is JAGUAR’S KISS by Vivi Andrews Supernaturally addictive Lone Pine Pride Samhain June 2014 On Sale: June 10, 2014 102 pages ISBN: 1619220245 EAN: 9781619220249 Kindle: B00I5LA4T8 e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Paranormal Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Jaguar’s Kiss by Vivi Andrews To get what he wants, he’ll have to rattle her cage… Lone Pine Pride, Book 1 Lila Fallon, the Lone Pine Pride Alpha’s only daughter, has been betrothed since childhood to marry her father’s chosen successor. The match is designed to maintain peace by shoring up any cracks in pride solidarity. She’s always known she would do her duty—she just never expected to meet a man who would tempt her to throw it all away. As a black panther, Santiago Flores couldn’t be a less suitable mate for the Alpha’s purebred lioness daughter. But that doesn’t change the fact that for every one of the five years he’s been with the Lone Pine Pride, he’s been head-over-heels in love with her. And when the Alpha announces that Lila’s indefinite engagement is about to end in a very definite marriage, Santiago is through holding his peace….

Most novelists walk through life collecting stories and scenes and breath-stealing words like black knit pants collect cat hair. We can’t walk through a room or a day without something landing and sticking. When I sat down to write ALL MY BELONGINGS, I drew heavily on those stick-forever moments. The main character in ALL MY BELONGINGS, Becca, is a selfless caregiver. Even when rebuffed, shamed, and unappreciated, she kept caring. As I wrote scenes of Becca’s patience and kindness toward a woman who couldn’t remember her cherished son and flitted seamlessly from reality to a non-existent ballet class, I realized I was writing Becca as the caregiver I wish I’d always been for my kids, my husband, my grandkids, my mother… Some of Becca’s actions seemed so familiar. Where did they originate? Long ago, I visited an elderly relative in a nursing home. When she motioned for the nurse to take her to the bathroom, I stepped into the hall, but couldn’t help overhearing the nurse talking low and sweetly to the woman. “Bernice, why don’t I get you a dry pair of panties? You’ll feel so much better.” Tenderness laced every word that came from the caregiver’s mouth. At…

First painful rule of fiction:  Everything–dialogue, characters, plot, scenes–must move the story forward.  If it does not, cut with the ruthlessness of a film editor.  So, why include historic or well-known characters in cameo appearances?  What would make the research for credibility worth the trouble for a character’s one or two-time walk into the pages of your novel? Sometimes, it’s the cameo character that holds significance for your main character, and sometimes it’s their work, their passion, or simply their influence that permeates the story. In SAVING AMELIE, a WWII story set in Berlin and Oberramergau, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known dissident German pastor makes two brief appearances.  But, those appearances carry tremendous weight. Bonhoeffer saw early the dangers posed by the Nazis and Hitler’s quest for absolute power.  He recognized the horrific ramifications for Jews in the Nuremberg Laws and the Aryan Clause which stripped German Jews of their citizenship and rights, and eliminated Hebrew Christians from public and church roles.  He saw the burning of synagogues for the hate crimes they were, and sterilizations and “mercy killings” of the physically and mentally handicapped for murder.  Bonhoeffer knew that the church, by not protecting Jews or anyone else outside Hitler’s…

I’ve loved all my characters. I’ve loved getting to know them and torturing them, getting to watch them fall in love, and seeing them tested by all the roadblocks in between. I love characters when they have huge flaws, because I love people when they have huge flaws. None of us are perfect, and fiction to me is like life with the volume cranked up. I think the two things I love most about writing vampires are the bond characters create when they share blood, and the extended lifespan. The latter, because so much of what shapes a story and the push-pull between two imperfect souls falling in love has to do with the lifetime of baggage they bring to the table. The older the vampire, the more the baggage, I figure. Or maybe it’s the bigger the hero, the bigger the baggage? Lee, my hero in HUNTER BY NIGHT, has been around for more than seven hundred years. That’s a helluva lot of baggage. Fun baggage. I don’t mean fun like he makes balloon animals and tells witty jokes at cocktail parties. But the kind of fun that allows for delicious tension between him and his heroine? Oh, hell…

You know you want an Alpha jaguar shifter, so I’ll make it really easy for you in case you’re just a little unsure as to how to seduce one of those really hot big cats! 1. Make him purr. A massage will help to ease the tension in those hard, taut muscles after all the physical activities he’s involved in. That will prepare him for more of a workout with you. Guaranteed. 2. Big cats love meat. A prime cut steak will have him eating out of your hands and will give him the sustained energy for much more—where you are concerned. Which is the most important thing! 3. Jaguars are one of only a few big cats that love the water. Others will swim in it when they need to, but jaguars love it. So take him to: a waterfall, a pool, a hot tub, a shower, a lake, the ocean—well, you name it. If it’s water, no telling how much fun the two of you can have. 4. Play chase. Cats love to play chase. But don’t let him do all the chasing. See what happens when you become the hunter. 5. Go climbing. It doesn’t matter if…

A good romance has to have a hunky hero who gets the heroine’s heart pounding. I personally find a lot of different qualities attractive, but when it comes to my romance heroes, here are 10 of my favorites. 1)    A tortured past – he might be surly, grouchy, or just plain mean, but as long as there is a reason behind it (especially one that can be worked through) then this gives the hero a little license to behave badly for a bit. 2)    A rockin’ bod – okay, this probably isn’t politically correct, but we are discussing heroes in romance novels and fantasy guys are just more fun when they are built 😉 3)    A heart of gold – like #1, he might be the meanest guy in the room, but there is a difference between mean and cruel. If he’s a jerk to the heroine at first because he’s just trying to protect himself but deep down he’s really totally in love with her and wants to ride off into the sunset and make her dreams come true, then that totally works for me. If he’s the sort that will kick a puppy just for the fun of…