Country singers, Brooks & Dunn, sang a song called, "Put a Girl In It." Its basic message implies a guy can own tons of toys, yet his life is not complete without a gal in it. For the purpose of this post, let's substitute the word, girl, for child. There are many couples who yearn for children, and feel their lives are not whole without at least one child. Others consider children a curse. Readers' tastes also follow on differing lines. Some enjoy reading books, no matter the genre, as long as a child is mentioned somewhere. Others feel children just get in the way of a story. I'd say, that depends on the story. Throwing a child character into the mix, with no real purpose, doesn't make sense. Every character, no matter what age, should move a plot forward in some way. Then we come to authors, like yours truly. I usually write romances and thrillers, but happened to fall in love with a stock photo of a baby. Suddenly I was inspired to write a ...

This month at the Blood-Red Pencil, we're promoting our new releases. Well, I had hoped to finish a Women's Fiction book, called Hailey's Chance , by Easter. Then it turned into Mother's Day, and now, it looks like it'll be ready either this month, or maybe by the 4th of July! At least I have a cover to show you. Turns out I had more thinking and researching to do about adoption in Wisconsin, a topic which I knew little about. Though the story is purely fictional, I don't want to present misleading information. After various attempts, I finally latched onto Sandy Otto, a helpful social worker at a Wisconsin adoption agency. For her efforts, I'm including her name in the dedication. http://amzn.com/B00R20N0B2 Hailey's Chance is a standalone prequel to my December, 2014 release, Christmas Carol , and takes place in the same fictional small town of Deerview. I've become attached to that town, and plan to contribute more books taking place ...

Since I am one of the many authors whose novels fall within all three categories, I’ve been known to use "women’s fiction," "book club fiction," and "literary fiction" interchangeably. I use "women’s fiction" when I’m around women who embrace the term, "book club fiction" when among men and women, and "literary fiction" when among academics or women I know to be especially sensitive to gender politics. I don’t mean to misrepresent; I just want to give my book its best chance of being read. So what do these terms mean, anyway? Women’s fiction is a story that portrays the emotional journey of a woman. It is not necessarily written by a woman (Nicholas Sparks) nor read exclusively by women, although these implications bother many who choose not to use the term. It need not have any romantic elements, but if it does, the story will not resolve on the heroics of a man. The stories typically end on a note of hope as oppose...

Many of you may still be recovering from Labor Day, so I'm offering you a chance to sit back and read an excerpt from my Blessing or Curse Collection . Some stories end happily, others not. Some characters are nice, others are not. Today's particular short story, called Who'll Mend This Broken Man , is about how a wife copes with the heartbreak of her husband's Parkinson's Disease. Over eleven years ago I watched my own mother suffer from this debilitating disease, and it's something I'll never forget. Excerpt: Ah, the wonderful love they’d shared. Why must it end this way? “Diego, eat,” Consuela Morales said, holding out a spoonful of puree to her shrunken, wheelchair-bound husband. His dry parched lips remained obstinately shut, his gray eyebrows furrowed. He wanted to die and she didn’t blame him. God help her, sometimes she wanted him dead too. Till death do us part seemed a long time to live with half a man. Placing the spoon into the jar with a...