Before I start writing a book, I do quite a bit of pre-writing. I try to figure out who my characters are and then I create a playlist. Once I have a playlist, I listen to it all the time. I listen to it so much that my kids complain because they get tired of the music. It becomes background noise that I use to draft the novel. One song that isn’t on my playlist, only because it wasn’t out when I made the playlist and wrote the book, is “Friends Don’t” by Maddie & Tae. The lyrics are a perfect representation of Owen and Evelyn’s relationship. “Friends don’t call you in the middle of the night Couldn’t even tell you why They just felt like saying “hi” Friends don’t stand around, playing with their keys Finding reasons not to leave Trying to hide the chemistry Drive a little too slow, take the long way home Get a little too close We do, but friends don’t” The actual playlist I used is pretty good, though. When I choose songs, I look for things that represent each character, the mood of the book, and their relationship. I don’t think I’ve ever…

I’m a mom of 3 teenagers. I’ve taught middle school and high school English. I have experience with kids. As a writer, I’ve written some romances where the heroine gets pregnant or wants to. Babies are part of life. However, I know a lot of readers don’t like kids in romance. I’ll be the first to admit, kids can totally kill romance buzz. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books even coined the phrase plot moppet to refer to small children in novels who have no purpose other than to drive the plot forward. They’re not fully fleshed out characters. They do cute things and the adults around them react. I’ve had friends suggest that I write YA (young adult) because I know kids – I must understand them and what they like, right? Therefore, writing YA should be a breeze. I’m not going to tackle the whole “writing should be a breeze” aspect. But part of my reasoning for not even considering writing YA is that my experience with my kids would read like something fictional. My kids are snarky and irreverent and pretty open about what they think and feel. They have awesome vocabularies (hello, English teacher mom). I’ve always felt…

If you hang out on Twitter, you might’ve seen a meme going around that asked people to name 5 things they love that aren’t books or people. It’s a tougher question than it looks at first glance, so I spent some time thinking about it. Here’s what I came up with, in no particular order: 1. My DVR – If you follow me at all on social media or if you’ve met me in real life, you know that I watch a lot of TV. Like A LOT. I’ve always been a bit of a TV junkie and having a DVR (as opposed to having to record on a VHS tape – remember those days?) has fed my habit. In the past, as new shows debuted, I had to sift through and decide what I wanted to watch. With small children in the house, more often than not, it was what can I record to watch later. Now, I’m much less choosey. If it sounds remotely interesting, I set a timer to record. I can give more shows a chance. It’s always easier to delete a timer than to try to catch up on a show later. 2. Netflix –…