All sunset photos do not look alike

I used to have a roommate who was fascinated by cloud formations and she took endless photos of them. And they all pretty much looked alike. I find that to be true of a lot of sunset photos also. But a friend sent me this gorgeous photo he took out the window of a train heading north back to Bellingham. I think it's poster-worthy.

How excited am I???

One of my producers sent me this photograph from MIPTV, the big global marketplace for buying and selling television shows.He's there to hawk a project I'm involved in and I could not be more excited if I were actually there. (This is the 21st century, so much of our lives is already taking place in virtual space that I feel like I AM there.) So wish us all luck!

Trying Out Amazon's Beta Cover Creator

I'm playing around iwth a new series from my alter-ego Delia Fontana (La Bruja Roja) and decided to try my hand at creating my own covers for each of the "episodes" before going to my usual cover creator for the entire "season" of episodes. I don't know...what do you think? I have this image in color as well, and I hope to use it on the final cover of the Vetiver Quinn stories. One of my concerns is that although the story is tagged "romantic suspense," this instalment (episode/chapter) is the introduction and I haven't had my protagonists fall in love (or fall into bed) right away. But that cover photo suggests they're already hot and heavy. Thoughts?

When someone gushes over a book

I was wearing the earrings I bought in New Orleans today and the checker at my supermarket complimented me on them. I told her I'd bought them in NOLA and she told me she'd loved the city. I told her about a cab driver taking me by Anne Rice's house and she told me how much she loved Anne Rice's books. And that made me think of the time I was in a supermarket in L.A. looking over the new paperback books. An older woman, a total stranger, pointed out a book by James Patterson--The 9th Judgment, a book in the Woman's Murder Club series. "That's a really good book," she said.

How cool is that? Can you imagine how great it would be to have total strangers recommending your book to people? You cannot buy that kind of word of mouth. When the first of the Twilight books came out, they came highly recommended to me by a friend's daughter, who was in middle school at the time. She's now in college, a writer herself, and I still rely on her for opinions in all things YA and paranormal. Forget being a best-selling author. What I want to be is an author that people recommend to strangers. (Well, don't forget it but you know what I mean.)

Happy Birthday to authors and illustrators born in April

Before there were "listicles" there were lists and I always liked lists. Turns out Scholastic has a neat resource for teachers that lists authors and illustrators by their birthdays. turns out a lot of my favorite authors were born in April Like: Hans Christian Andersen (April 2) Washington Irving (April 3) Beverly Cleary (April 12, and next year marks her centennial) Marguerite Henry (April 13) William Shakespeare (April 23) Lois Duncan (April 28) There are more, but these are just my favorites.

Shameless Saturday self-promjotion

At midnight tonight, a count-down deal goes into effect for my short mystery novel Whipping Boy. You'll be able to snag it for 99 cents for a limited time as it makes its way back up to its normal price. I loved writing this book and am about halfway through the sequel (A Taste for Strange, which tells the story through the point of view of the cop who was the "co-star" of the first book). When you're a writer, you love all your books, but this one is close to my heart. I love writing the fantasy and the horror and the SF, but I really love my mysteries. It's got a 4.6 rating!! Bookmark it here and snag it at 12:01!

True Crime comjing March 31

I'm not really a true crime junkie, particularly not when it comes to chronicles of serial killers, which I find kind of depressing. But a good murder story, particularly one like this, always piques my interest. Upstanding doctor, a pillar in his church, finds his wife of 30 years dead in the bathtub. Terrible accident, or so it appears. The Stranger She Loved is already available from St. Martin's Press via pre-order and it'll be out in 10 days. Written by Shanna Hogan, who has also written books about Jodi Arias, and several other notorious cases.