You could say I started out in this business as a book thief. I used to steal my mother’s romance novels and read them in my room, under the covers with a flashlight. There were five of us kids, so she really couldn’t have known for sure who was doing it—but trust me, if she did, she would have flipped out. All the stories I read back then were about the hero saving the heroine. It was a beautiful picture they painted. So real in fact, that as a teen, I thought it was real. Well, guess what? Not all men are pirates named Brock that will help you get back what was stolen from you, fall in love with you, sweep you off your feet  and then finally…‘take you, under the moonlight.’ Shocker. As I grew up, I started to wonder what happens to a girl who is desperately seeking that in a world where men don’t actually think like charming Brock the Pirate? Actually, if I’m being honest, I didn’t really have to wonder, because I was too busy learning the answer to that question firsthand: Our heads spin, our hearts get broken, and each time we try…

Cozy mystery lovers, check out this tasty excerpt from J.J. Cook‘s newest Biscuit Bowl Mystery, FRY ANOTHER DAY, and a special author note! “Can you really make a biscuit out of sweet potatoes, Zoe?” Delia asked. “I’m not sure,” I replied. “I guess we’ll find out.” It was four a.m. on the downtown streets of Charlotte, North Carolina. It was dark and quiet in the city. A line of food trucks with names like Stick It Here, Meggie’s Mushrooms, and my food truck—The Biscuit Bowl—were in place as though they were waiting for the lunch crowd. Only extra early. It was the first morning of the Sweet Magnolia Food Truck Race. Ten food trucks from across the United States competing for a fifty-thousand dollar grand prize. Even if I didn’t win the cash, the race was being taped to be shown on national food networks. How great was that? The organizers had made it clear the day before that there would be plenty of challenges, and even a few tricks along the five stops between Charlotte and my hometown of Mobile, Alabama. They weren’t kidding. *** And I found out that you CAN make a good biscuit with sweet potatoes,…

The books in my Downward Dog Mystery series are all set in Pacific Northwest locations that I know and love. My second, A KILLER RETREAT, takes place on Orcas Island, a small wooded treasure off the Washington coast. The island is only accessible by ferry, so once you get there, you are truly an ocean away from it all. Of course, no writing project would feel complete without research trips, and I took more than a few. If you’re ever near the Washington coast, be sure to visit my five favorite spots on Orcas. You’ll be glad you did. Tracy’s Top Five Orcas Island Destinations 1. Doe Bay Resort and Retreat. This relaxing retreat center sits on 38 acres and was one of several meditation centers that inspired my vision for the Elysian Springs Resort, which is at the heart of A KILLER RETREAT. Visitors can choose from houses, cabins, tent sites and yurts. My German shepherd, Tasha, says that if you take your dog—and who wouldn’t?—you should stay in Eden, the cabin right outside the garden. Tasha likes wandering along Doe Bay’s trail system, resting on the beach, and staring at the deer that graze in the fields surrounding…

Have you ever read a book and been so drawn in by the setting, you thought, “I want to go there?” Often, towns or places are fictional, especially in books with contemporary settings. They may be inspired by real places, but by using a fictitious name, the author has the freedom to inject elements that can come from many different places. Occasionally, though, an author will use someplace real for their setting. Like I did with my current series for Love Inspired Books. When my mother-in-law introduced me to the town of Ouray, Colorado, I was smitten. Located in southwestern Colorado, this former gold and silver mining town is where her parents homesteaded in the 1920’s and is as rich in history as it is in beauty. But why use a real setting? Simple. I want the world to know about Ouray. Nestled in a bowl that’s surrounded by fourteen thousand foot peaks, this tiny alpine village is unique. For instance, Ouray is the Jeeping Capital of the World. Whether individually or on a tour, Jeeps are the most popular way to explore the San Juan Mountains, abandoned mining towns and unsurpassed vistas. In the winter, Ouray is host to…

The Sweetest Kisses contemporary romance series is built around three brothers who are partners in and co-owners of a western Maryland law firm. They have divided up the legal pie—Trent Knightley does family law, MacKenzie handles criminal defense, James does the civil and commercial cases—but family history and that dear, strange beast, brotherly love, unite them. All three brothers show up in each of the novels, and not simply because I adore these guys. A hero walks a challenging path, from an existence that might be predictable and safe, but lonely, to a more courageous life, lived from the heart, come what may. A journey that difficult shouldn’t be undertaken without support, for several reasons. First, we all need help from time to time. Our stubborn independence might fool most of our friends, but our siblings usually know us longer and better than anybody else does. Siblings support us despite our yearning for self-sufficiency, and despite our pigheadedness. Second, siblings often cut us the least slack. They know what we’re capable of, have faith in us, and don’t pull their punches. When a hero needs a serious talking to or a reality check, his brothers are the guys for the…

I have a weakness for writing bold, independent heroines with unusual hobbies. My ladies are often drawn to the extraordinary and the forbidden—at least for their time. From an educated number-crunching business partner in my first book, THE DUKE’S OBSESSION, to an independent dog-breeder in my latest release, MISS WINTERS PROPOSES, my heroines broach the unexpected and the near impossible with their interests. So, what constitutes a deviation from the norm, especially in the late Georgian through the Regency era? Pretty much everything. A typical lady was meant to be educated—but only just enough to secure a husband and claim the role of his wife. Anything beyond the expected basic arithmetic needed to balance household budgets was considered superfluous. A woman’s job, her sole purpose in life, was to perpetuate her husband’s line through the delivery of an heir. Anything else, was, well…scandalous. To have an opinion was frowned upon, especially when it was in contradiction to your spouse. To possess wit, discouraged. To breed dogs, and therefore comprehend anatomy, vulgar. But despite the numerous social mores, a few bold, brave, women went against the grain, and gave the phrase faux pas, a run for its money. Mary Wollstonecraft did…

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about books with my eighteen-year-old daughter, and I mentioned how much I’d enjoyed a young adult book I’d recently read. My daughter instantly picked up her phone (to which she is surgically glued, I’m convinced) and Googled the book. She read the blurb and informed me that it sounded like a very sappy book and not for her. Sappy? Me? I was momentarily taken aback, but after I’d thought about it for a while, I was okay with that. What to my daughter sounded sappy and sentimental, was moving and tender to me, and I absolutely loved that book. We all have different tastes in reading, and thank heavens there are so many books out there catering for so many varied palates. I love reading romance, and even when I pick up a non-romance book my interest is always piqued by the relationships between characters. (Maybe that’s why I’ve never really gotten into non-fiction.) To me these relationships deepen the reading experience and bring the characters to life. We all know about those books that suck us in and pull us away from our everyday lives, making us stay up late as…

I almost titled this Paralyzed by Fear, but that sounded too negative, and I want this to be a positively uplifting blog.  Just so you know, I’m using the word “bliss” to reference what makes us happy in life, what makes us want to get up in the morning, what fulfills us as human beings. Stalled careers are a big problem among writers both published and unpublished. I’ve met people who want to be published, who have the ability to write, but can’t bring themselves to send their work out to a publishing house for fear of rejection. I’ve met talented musicians and artists with the same problem. The only thing keeping them from achieving their bliss is fear. They are afraid to trust their talent. They’re afraid of how bad rejection will feel. They’re afraid they’ll be humiliated. Ask successful writers/artists/musicians about those fears and they will tell you they had to let go of them or they never would have made it. Being out in the public as much as I am, I encounter so many people who are stuck in a cloud of fear and negativity—from stalled careers, money troubles, relationship issues, parenting problems, and on and…

People often ask me if I use real people as my characters. Some ask with a bit of a grin and sly wink, as if to say, “You could use me, if you wish.” The answer is always no, and often receives a disappointed sigh from the person who asked. But using real people as characters could be libelous. And while everyone has some interesting aspects to their lives and/or personalities, fictional characters need a ton of fascinating traits to really hold readers’ attention. So, what I like to do is “borrow” a few of those attributes from the people around me and merge them into my fictional characters. For example, the lady who lives down the road and wakes at the crack of dawn every spring day to painstakingly clip the yellow heads off dandelions in her yard—all million gazillion of them—well, I find her fascinating. What motivates her behavior? (Besides the fact that she doesn’t like dandelions.) What type of person has the tenacity, or perhaps the compulsiveness, to do such a thing? What other compulsions might she have? And how does she feel about the guy who lives next door to her with the field of weeds,…

At the heart of the County Cork Mysteries is the second book I ever wrote, set in a small pub in a very small town in southwestern Ireland. It was inspired by a real pub called Connolly’s, which I’ve come to know well over the past decade (especially after having tea with the owner in the back room, with her Irish Wolfhound by the fire and her cat in my lap). I chose to write about Ireland because I never knew my father’s parents, both of whom were born there (although in different counties), and I thought seeing the country might be a way to get to know them. My grandmother and grandfather came to New York separately, in 1911, and connected when he made milk deliveries to the back door of the house where she was a servant. They didn’t marry until 1918, and they had my father a year later. My grandmother was 38 at the time. They went on to have two more children. My father became a chemical engineer and earned a master’s degree. His younger brother was a nuclear engineer at Stanford, after getting a Ph.D. at Cal Tech. Their baby sister worked in television…