Here’s a little secret about me and my writing:  when it comes to how my stories unfold, I’m not always the one with my hands firmly on the steering wheel. What’s more, I like it that way. Yes, I know just how crazy that sounds, but that doesn’t make it any less true. When I sit down to start a book, at the most all I’ve written is a short summary of how I envision the story unfolding. This synopsis is only about seven or eight double-spaced pages long. Considering my final manuscript will top out at around 380 pages, there’s a lot of room for new ideas and even new characters to pop into the flow of the story. While true for all of my books, it was definitely true when I wrote HER KNIGHT’S QUEST. I knew Duncan, the hero, would be travelling alone to a distant abbey. I knew the heroine, Lady Lavinia, would be there. But starting out, I didn’t know anything about the sisters who lived there–not even their names. I was aware there was a young girl living at the abbey, but I didn’t know why and certainly never expected to have Sarra play…

I’m very glad to be here at Fresh Fiction today! I thought I’d take a minute of your time and tell you how THE GEEK GIRL AND THE SCANDALOUS EARL went from an idea, to a manuscript, to a real, live book. As I was thinking about this, holy cow, it just occurred to me when this whole thing started. In the summer of 2011, I decided to attend my first writer’s conference. The only book I had ready at the time was out on submission, and I was hoping for a “yes” that never came. I wanted to hedge my bets, so even though there was barely two months before the conference, I started writing THE GEEK GIRL AND THE SCANDALOUS EARL. I wrote quickly, and I poured myself into the story. I’ve never written that feverishly. But the holy grail of a face-to-face with real live editors and agents was a powerful motivator, and I got the story done. It wasn’t polished as perfectly as I liked, but it was done, and it was enough to be able to pitch it. I did lots of research about pitching. I came up with a one sheet, sort of a…

One of my favorite parts of writing my Amish Mysteries is the time I get to spend in Lancaster County, PA, prior to each new book. The tidbits I learn each and every time I visit the area where the largest contingent of Old Order Amish live (followed closely by Holmes County, Ohio) can—and do—fill pages and pages of my research notebook. And, sure enough, somewhere in those notes is the beginning of my plot. Take for instance my newest release, ASSAULTED PRETZEL (book # 2 in the series). That story was birthed around the following facts: * Old Order Amish families average about seven children each, with some homes having as many as twelve. It is because of these large families that the Amish population is doubling every 20 years. * With such rapid growth, the amount of available farm land in Lancaster County is shrinking. It is for this reason that many Amish either a) move to another part of the country to find land or b) find alternate ways to make money. I believe it was shortly after hearing that second fact that the story-generating wheels began to turn inside my head. Within days, I had the…

I’ve written a number of pets into my books. In part, because, well, I love animals.  But also because I think animals bring an interesting and fun element to the stories and insights into the characters. There is only so much we, as writers, can show of a character through introspection or even action.  It’s often in their interactions with other characters that the readers come to know them best.  The interaction between the hero and heroine is what the story is all about, of course.  But secondaries bring so much to the story. They are the confidante, the sounding board, the challenger or possibly the instigator that give the reader that extra peek into just what this character is made of. Does the big, bad, tough cop melt over a cuddly cat—but only in secret? Does the heroine have a fear of dogs brought on by a bad experience, but tries to hide it so the hero doesn’t think less of her?  Does one of the characters kick at an animal, treating it badly?  All of these actions give us an instant snapshot into what kind of person that character is.  Yes, we can definitely use other methods to…

When you mention the words “cozy mystery” these days, what probably comes to mind most often is “female sleuth.” That’s because 99% of cozy mysteries these days do have female main characters, usually amateurs, who do the crime-solving. Two writers who have bucked that trend recently are Jeffrey Cohen, with his Elliot Freed series, and Miranda James (aka me), with the “Cat in the Stacks” series featuring not one, but two, males as lead characters: Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. Charlie Harris is a widower with two grown children, and in the first book, MURDER PAST DUE, he has moved back to his hometown, Athena, Mississippi, after the death of his wife. About a year after the move he found a kitten in the parking lot at the public library. He named the kitten Diesel for his rumbling purr and discovered that Diesel was a Maine coon. The average male Maine coon often weighs about twenty-five pounds, but Diesel (based on an actual Maine coon I once met) weighs closer to forty pounds in OUT OF CIRCULATION. Charlie is also a librarian, and when that word is mentioned, most people probably again think “female,” since the profession…

As a child, I watched the Wizard of Oz faithfully every spring.  Somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that I have a bit of all four main characters inside me.  I’ve always longed for something different in my life.  That’s the Dorothy part.  However, I’d worry that, in searching for the ‘different’, what if I lost the ‘safe’?  Meet my Cowardly Lion.  There were also times when I questioned my heart – Tin Man – and many moments when my Scarecrow side wondered how smart I really was.  What would it be like, I used to think, to pick up and leave everything behind, to start again in some new and exciting place where I’d have no obligations and no need to explain myself or my actions to anyone.  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, hello freedom. Ah, but how would I live?  Would the people who matter to me be all right?  What if I didn’t like this new place?  Could I go back to who, where and what I’d been before?  And if I couldn’t, what then?  Hmm… Maybe a better idea would be to stick with the safe and only make minor forays into the different.  Or…

Okay, so there’s no Princess of Salamria, but bear with me… As I’m writing this post, I’m sitting at the kitchen table (which is littered with coffee mugs, cereal bowls, newspapers, crayons, and a vase filled with dead tulips) and kids are running around me.  They are yelling “Arrrrrrr Mateeeee” as they play some crazed version of pirates that involves high-pitched screaming, and the use of empty toilet paper rolls as telescopes.  The day started at 5 AM, thanks to kids who aren’t old enough to know that weekends are for sleeping in.  The play room is off-limits today because the cat decided since she wasn’t getting enough attention, she should pee all over the rug in there, and I haven’t had a chance to haul it out to clean. My husband is away at a conference and I’m at home with the kiddos this weekend. But this is all pretty typical stuff, right?  I mean, who wants to hear a mom drone on about her day with the kids?  All you parents out there have changed dirty diapers, cleaned up countless messes, and tried to either ignore or soothe toddler meltdowns.  Why would anyone want to read a book…

I used to be afraid of playing truth and dare. Partly because I was so horribly clueless that I wouldn’t have a good truth and partly because I was terrified of what kind of dare I’d find myself facing. Now, with the friends I have and the changes my life has taken, I find myself equally leery of the game. However, when I am dared to do something in my writing, I will often find a way to work it in. Once, after discovering “Love Game” by Lady Gaga, I was dared to use the term disco stick in a book. It has since made it into two of my books. Guess that’s a great thing about recurring characters in a series. 🙂 Most recently, and less naughty but no less fun, I was dared to put a line in from a movie. Did you see Letters to Juliet? You know the scene where he falls and she asks if he can move and he says “Only my lips.”? That cracks me up every time I see it, so when the dare came in for me to use that line I couldn’t resist. I don’t think it came off quite…

Book Five in the Maiden Lane series: LORD OF DARKNESS by Elizabeth Hoyt WHEN STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT He lives in the shadows. As the mysterious masked avenger known as the Ghost of St. Giles, Godric St. John’s only goal is to protect the innocent of London. Until the night he confronts a fearless young lady pointing a pistol at his head-and realizes she is his wife . . . BECOME LOVERS . . . Lady Margaret Reading has vowed to kill the Ghost of St. Giles-the man who murdered her one true love. Returning to London, and to the man she hasn’t seen since their wedding day, Margaret does not recognize the man behind the mask. Fierce, commanding, and dangerous, the notorious Ghost of St. Giles is everything she feared he would be-and so much more . . . DESIRE IS THE ULTIMATE DANGER When passion flares, these two intimate strangers can’t keep from revealing more of themselves than they had ever planned. But when Margaret learns the truth-that the Ghost is her husband-the game is up and the players must surrender . . . to the temptation that could destroy them both Excerpt of LORD OF DARKNESS “I…

When you have to meet someone at an airport or have a doctor’s appointment, do you take a book with you?  I do.  It’s a habit, one so ingrained that my husband teases me about never being without a book. Sometimes when I leave town, I pack several, maybe in different genres, because I don’t know what I’m going to be in the mood to read on a given evening.  I want a choice, and now that we have e-readers, I can take a small library along in very little space. Reading can offer a great escape from a day that was stressful or tedious or just didn’t go very well.  I have favorite books I read over and over, and I like having the option to relax with one that’s like an old friend. I don’t have to figure out who the people are or, if the book is a romance, how the hero and heroine will win their happy ending.  I can just enjoy the trip, as I do when driving through places I’ve lived before. Of course, I can also explore new territory with books I’ve never read before.  That’s always more of an adventure, something to…