There are four QR codes in my latest thriller Tell Me What You Did. Three of these codes contains video scenes from the book, and the final code is a video version of my acknowledgments. If you are having trouble accessing the links behind the codes, you can reach...
All right, now that it’s November you probably don’t want to hear about Halloween. Too bad. You can go down to your local grocery store and immerse yourself in all the Christmas decor you want, but for now, we’re doing a Halloween debrief. I’ve come to realize writing...
This was my first Halloween with neither of my two kiddos at home. Wow, how fast it all goes by! Seems like it was just yesterday I was showing the little ankle-biters the proper way to decorate for Halloween. They didn’t listen at first; for the few several years...
People are always surprised when they find out book titles are often not the title the author used. Looking back, my publisher changed the title of five of my nine books. And that’s okay! I’ve long since learned not to get attached to my working title, and often I’ll...
Whenever I'm talking about my 20-year writing journey, one thing I always mention is the power of curiosity. Together with empathy and perseverance, curiosity is a necessary tool for the writer. It gives the storyteller (and the reader) the agency to ask, "What...
I did a talk and book signing last weekend at a charity event, and the organizers had five of my eight novels available for sale. During the signing, readers would scan the available titles and inevitably pose this question to me: "Which of these books is your...
In many interviews with writers, this question almost always come up: What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring writers? My answer is unwavering: write every day. But I'm never asked the second most important thing a writer—aspiring or...
This month marks a momentous anniversary: in March 2003 I typed the first words of my first novel. I had no clue what I was doing at first. I never dreamed of being a writer, nor did I know anything about the art of writing itself. But twenty years ago I was...
A book comes alive in editing. Unfortunately, editing sucks.Editing is the time where you have face hard truths about your book, and as tempting as it is to tell yourself, ah, it's fine, the reality is without putting in serious post-first-draft work, your book will...
Back in September I asked you all to suggest a topic for my newsletter, and a reader said they wanted to know what my fears are. Well, number one on that list is a fear of my cat taking over my newsletter (and based on the number of emails I got, Guff has a lot of new...
