Let me start by admitting I’m not the type of person to listen to music while writing. I find it too distracting, especially when the lyrics don’t match the words I’m putting on the page. However, that isn’t to say I’m not above a bit of song searching procrastination. I love to create a good playlist that’ll keep me thinking about my plot and characters while I’m away from my laptop. That’s how I ended up with a 12-song playlist themed around the world and story of TO DROWN A WITCH. Below are five songs from that playlist that I listened to on repeat in the early stages of drafting. 1. DARKSIDE by Neoni – This song was added to my brainstorming playlist because I felt it brought out the heaviness of both Nes and Toran’s pasts while also explaining how that past has shaped their present. There’s no heroes or villains in this placeJust shadows that dance in my headspaceLeaving nothing but phantoms in their wake Neither Nes nor Toran is the hero or villain of the story. Because of their pasts, they both operate in a gray area. The losses they’ve experienced, especially Toran’s, haunt them and the…

How do authors decide what to charge for their books? Traditionally published scribes don’t have to think about it because their publishers make the pricing decision. And some of those choices raise my hackles. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t see shelling out three Lincolns (or more) for an ebook that I do not own but merely lease. And the stratospheric prices of paperbacks or hardbacks? Fuhgeddabout it! Book pricing, however, is under the control of an indie author. As one myself, here’s the way I slice and dice it. Everything costs way too much right now. Life’s basic necessities are beyond too many people’s reach. Even a small luxury like a book can be unaffordable at the prices most publishers set. I get it. These businesses have fixed costs they have to recoup before they pay a dime to their authors. So do I before I get paid a red nickel, too. Happily, however, I don’t answer to investors or boards of directors or even just bean counters. I answer only to me. And my gut tells me to keep the prices of the books in my series as low as possible. Why? Several reasons. First,…

What is the title of your latest release?OUR WICKED GIFTS What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?The black sheep of the magically gifted Winter dynasty falls for the boy determined to bring her family to their knees and must decide if the Winters are worth saving. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I was inspired by my old hometown of Henley-on-Thames in the UK. Every year, it hosts a famous regatta, and I absolutely love the outfits and the atmosphere. So I figured I’d set a book in a fictional version of the town, with added drama. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Nope, not a chance. Cicely tries to be a good person but she’s kind of…not. What are three words that describe your hero?Determined, desperate, conflicted. What’s something you learned while writing this book?Basajo is a type of Italian blue cheese soaked in wine. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?I edit as I draft, then rewrite the entire book when I’m done. It’s a chaotic process. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?Sushi. Describe your writing space/office!I recently moved house, so for now my…

I haven’t had as much time as usual this past month to read and listen to books, so I’m happy that the first book I want to share with you was so very magnificent. WHISTLER, by Ann Patchett, is as good as everyone, everywhere has been saying. While I don’t remember all the details, I’ve insisted for years that BEL CANTO was the best book I’ve ever read. Without a reread, I can’t bump it off that pedestal, but WHISTLER is certainly a competitor. It’s not a romance, not a mystery, and not a fantasy. It’s a quiet story of love, and reverent tears are filling my eyes once again even as I type these words. Daphne is the adult child of divorced parents, but it was her mother’s second (of three) husbands, Eddie, who gave her the brief, loving paternal relationship that stayed locked away in her heart even as she grew up and for the most part forgot about him. When Daphne and her husband run into Eddie, her long-ago stepfather, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, her surprise at meeting him is outdone only by her surprise at the instant rapport that springs to life…

Someone once asked me how I began plotting a story and what my starting point was. My answer was that it was different for every book. In the case of A LADY’S GUIDE TO MISCHIEF AND MURDER, it started with a country house party and how a murderer could really put a damper on all the fun activities. For A DAUGHTER’S GUIDE TO MOTHERS AND MURDER it started with a horrible murder that fascinated me, but was much too horrible for my books. But what if the horrible murder is what everyone thought happened, but everyone was wrong? Thus, Frances and George investigated their first cold case. But sometimes, it’s about finding the body. For A CHRISTMAS GUIDE TO FAMILY AND MURDER I planned to use an image I had I mind for some time of George and Frances finding a body buried in a snowbank. I imagined them out in the woods looking for mistletoe or a yule log and finding a body instead. But you know what they say about plans. I ran into a stumbling block immediately when I came up against reality in the form of the weather. December of 1900, the month in which the…

With necessity forcing Society to allow women into many new lines of work, breaking down barriers which could not later be fully reconstructed, World War I changed the landscape of the working world. In this month’s stories, we see that impact on the lives of both individuals and groups of women who, prepared to show how capably they could support the war effort, becomes heroines in the very shadow of the guns. We begin with BAND OF SISTERS by Lauren Willig, a novel based on a true story. When charismatic Smith graduate Betsy Rutherford calls on other Smith graduates to join a unit to help French civilians displaced and injured by the war, a disparate group of eighteen volunteers head for France as the Smith College Relief Unit. Though scholarship student Kate Moran never felt she fit in, she reluctantly yields to the pleas of her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden to join the unit. Arriving in the decimated French countryside, they find their headquarters a burned-out ruin and the villagers they seek to help living in cellars, their gardens destroyed, their wells poisoned. If frequent German shelling and harassment from male bureaucracies that don’t believe they belong in…

What is the title of your latest release?FALLING FOR YOU What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A one-night stand between two strangers. What could go wrong? Two pink lines.. And if that doesn’t make things complicated you come face to face with him four months later and you have to tell him your having his baby….. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wrote the dreams series which takes place in Montgavin and in book five I introduced Theo, which became the hero of book one in the Falling Series. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Yes.. I think it would be so much fun and that is only beucase I think a little of myself is in each heroine! What are three words that describe your hero?Swoony, supportive, protective. What’s something you learned while writing this book?That chicken fried stead isn’t chicken. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?I wait until it’s totally done and do a read through on my first round of edits. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?hmmm it would have to be Italian food. Describe your writing space/office!For years I had…

Excerpt from THE PADDOCK CLUB by Madge Maril: Chapter 1 En Passant NEW YORK CITY I’m not a good person. What I am, though, is a good woman. You know what I mean—the difference. There’s an art to being a woman in this world, those little winks, the pencil skirts, the mauve eyeshadow. Saying sorry when you’re not sorry, styling your hair within an inch of its life, choosing silence so you can be invisible, so you can do whatever you want. I think I was fourteen the first time I realized that this body would require work. My grandma was perched on her restaurant’s fake marble countertop, short legs swinging, the heels of her nonslip shoes banging softly against the purple cabinet doors. I was in front of her, my chin in her hand as she applied eyeliner to my water line. “This freaking hurts,” I whined. “I know,” she replied calmly. “If you hand me the makeup remover, I can take it off. Your choice.” Waterfield High School’s fall dance was that night, and I had a date with a soft-spoken writer in my class who all the guys called Nosferatu. “No. I’m okay,” I promised Grandma, and…

Take a tour of Bramleigh Green with Sasha Lee Gazing at the Spring cherry blossom and listening to the tweet of birdsong, I have to pinch myself to check I’m not dreaming. No, I really live in Bramleigh Green, running my own matcha café and matchmaking business. I’m Sasha Lee, and my café Matcha Moments sits at one end of the cobbled high street, facing The Green. Nestled among sheep-studded emerald hills you wouldn’t think the town of Bramleigh Green was only a two- hour train ride from Paddington station. In my days as a law student, I could spend the same time stuck on the London Underground, breathing in the commuter herd’s morning breath. Here, the air’s as fresh as nectar and life’s slower paced and sweeter too. Unlike the anonymous city, the locals are actually interested in getting to know you – perhaps a little too well…. I arrived in Bramleigh Green feeling burnt out, a failure in love and work. Trying to please my East Asian parents, I’d attempted a career in law. Let’s just say it gave up on me before I gave up on it. At the same time, I suffered a devastating heartbreak. After…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Grace Helena Walz! Writes:Heartfelt, sassy Southern fiction starring down-to-earth women determined to find their way through all of life’s trials. PRETTY AS A PEACH follow’s Delilah Thomas, a people-pleasing preschool teacher who decides to investigate a secretive MLM cosmetics company that’s come to town and infiltrated her group of lifelong friends. In order to bring to light the misdeed of the company, Delilah must team up with her retiree neighbor, find her voice, and finally stand up to her contemptible family. Along the way she uncovers far more than she ever bargained for—about her town, her family, and herself. About:Grace is a former social worker and mother of two who squeezes writing into the moments between school carpool and after-school activities. She writes Southern book club fiction, and PRETTY AS A PEACH is her third novel. When she has a moment of free time she loves to sew, read, go for uninterrupted walks, and eat sweet treats. Readers who will love PRETTY AS A…