This will be quick, since I have somewhere to be. (No, I’m actually not indolent all the time, just most of the time.) There’s been some serious debate in Romancelandia recently over the state of the historical romance. If you’re reading this you’re likely already familiar with it and I’m short on time, so I … Read more
So I wrote a while back about Ramon y Cajal’s advice on wives for scientists, which basically boiled down to: find another scientist. If you can’t do that, find someone that won’t distract you from your work. Romantic, huh? I’ve started to do research for my second scientific romance, which looks likes it’s going to … Read more
As I revise my two finished novels, I’m realizing that my heroines will not be universally loved. In fact, some people might be very irritated by them. They might just be…Unlikable Heroines. I’m quite fine with this. All of my favorite heroines in romance are prickly, difficult…flawed. One of my most favorite heroines, Scarlett O’Hara, … Read more
I wrote a little something about Marie Curie’s cookbook and historical romance over at Historical Romance Week. Trust me, it makes sense when you read it.
A few months back, a lively discussion on the current state of historical romance was set off by two blog posts: one at Dear Author and another at AAR. The discussion sparked several other excellent posts on the subject. (A nice round up can be found here.) Historical romance is my favorite kind of romance. … Read more
This is a Cherokee Moon and Stars watermelon that I picked from the garden just this morning. Isn’t it lovely? You might not be familiar with it, since you can’t find it in the store. It’s not “commercially viable”. It has…seeds. Imagine that, a fruit with seeds. Like most heirloom varieties, it almost went extinct, … Read more
I have a confession to make: the main reason why I can be as lazy as I am around here is my husband. He loves to spend his weekends digging in the dirt, doing home improvement projects–basically anything that keeps him outside and moving. One of his favorite things to do is to care for … Read more
Recently, I’ve been revising my first novella and I’ve been very…irritated with it. At times, I’ve considered just renaming it Nice People Being Boring: A Novella and letting it rot for eternity on my hard drive. But thanks to some kind words from my critique partner and a complete rewrite of the ending, I’m beginning to … Read more
I was tagged for the Liebster Award! Both Badass Romance and Emma Barry were kind enough to nominate this little blog. The Liebster Award is a way to pay it forward for smaller blogs. But I have to do some work to earn this award. I must: List 11 random facts about myself. Answer 11 … Read more
So, I’ve blathered on about what a scientist does, but now we can get into the nitty gritty of the science of writing. And we’re going to start with something that is fundamental to writing, and that is storytelling. Storytelling is everything in fiction writing. Readers will forgive all manner of writing sins if you … Read more