I am an author of romantic novels where falling in love is always an adventure.
~ Take a Good Look ~ When we read, we create visual images in our heads. We picture the heroine’s dress. We see the house. We visualize the car speeding past. These visual images grow out of our own visual memory of things our eyes have seen. In describing objects using the visual sense, it … More Editing for Sensory Language Part 5: Vision
~ The Way It Feels ~ Close your eyes. Reach out and touch something nearby. Concentrate on how it feels to your fingertips. When we touch something a giant network of nerves are activated sending information to our brains. If we have touched something similar before, our brain may make a guess as to what … More Editing for Sensory Language Part 4 Touch
~ The Gustatory Sense: On the Tip of Our Tongue ~ Stick out your tongue and take a taste. Yum! Our sense of taste is probably our most pleasurable sense. It is also one of the most complex. We have almost 2000 taste sensors on our tongue, but what we actually taste is a combination … More Editing for Sensory Language Part 3 Taste
~ The Olfactory Sense: Using Our Nose ~ Smell is one of the most powerful of our senses. Smell forms and solidifies memories and evokes the emotions. A familiar odor can bring back an image or event from the past. Smells influence the choices we make and can change our mood and our behavior. Real estate … More Editing for Sensory Language Part 2 SMELL
– Weaving in the Seven Senses – As you can tell from the title I am still editing. I have gone over my current manuscript for all the big things. Now it is time for me to add those little details that raise ordinary writing to the level that touches the reader emotionally. This is especially important in … More Editing for Sensory Language
Editing Tribulations and Tricks For the last several months, I have been stuck in editing mode. It’s not that I dislike editing. I just like creating new stories better. Editing becomes a tribulation when all you do is edit from morning to night. That’s what happens when you fast draft three books in a row … More Marathon Editing
Or Why Hitching Creativity to the Clock is Doomed to Failure Yikes! Where did the time go? My last post was when – December? So much for keeping a writing journal. It was such a good idea – writing down what was going on in my writing. So what happened? Well, now that I am … More Time Management versus Creativity in Writing
50,000 Words and Counting! I did it! For the third year in a row I managed to get down 50,000 words on my next novel, despite the holidays, a long-awaited visit from my sister who lives in Scotland, a book signing in Long Island, and all the daily things I do – like work. However, … More Word Trackers. A Good Thing or Not?
I love to read. In fact, I don’t just love it– I am compelled to read. I read everything. If there is a newspaper in the recycle bin, I read it. If there is a cereal box on the table, I read the label. If there is a book left anywhere, I pick it up … More I love to read: Why reading during NaNoWri is a bad Idea
My first novel, written as a respite from working on my dissertation, took me five years to write. My second novel took seven years to write. My third novel took one month. What made the difference? Fast drafting. Fast drafting is the writing process in which you throw out everything you’ve learned about good writing … More Fast Drafting My Way to The End or What I Learned from NaNoWri
Ready. Set. Go. Got my plot. Got my characters. Got my GMC outline. Got my alarm set. Everything appears ready for me to dive in and write my first 2000 words (Technically you need to write 1533 a day, but I aim for 2000 words a day – that way I get ahead a bit … More NaNoWri starts Tomorrow and I Can’t Wait.
NaNoWri or National Novel Writing Month starts on Tuesday. This will be my third year participating. I don’t know why, but somehow tracking words and trying to attain the 50,000 word challenge in 30 days just gets my blood flowing and the creative juices oozing. So I am getting set for the race to the … More Why NaNoWri fires me up to write faster
I have always loved words. Words are amazing things. They can make us feel happy. They can cut us to the quick. Loving words as much as I do, it comes as no surprise that I am a reader and a writer. When I was a teenager I collected favorite words and phrases on index … More Zara’s Words for Readers & Writers
Dear Readers, I have been busy. In June, my first romantic suspense Beneath the Skin was published by Wild Rose Press. I have just signed the contract for Close to the Skin, Book 2 in the Skin Quartet series. I have discovered that it is not the writing that is time consuming. I love writing. … More Forgive My Long Silence…
Where do you like to read? I’m a compulsive reader so I enjoy reading anywhere. I have been known to read while stirring the stew and in the few seconds it takes to microwave my tea. One of the reasons I like to read paperback books as opposed to e-books is that it is actually … More Favorite Places to Read
I’m having a Facebook Party for Beneath the Skin! Today is my big day. Beneath the Skin will be released to the world! In celebration, I am holding my first ever Facebook Party. In preparation, I have done a ton of research. Below is what I learned goes into having a successful party. Steps to a Successful Facebook … More Have a Successful Facebook Party
How I Made a Book Trailer for Beneath the Skin! Book trailers are the hot new thing in book marketing. With my background in making videos, I just had to try my hand at creating one for Beneath the Skin. It was terrific fun! How I Made the Book Trailer This is the first time I … More How I made a Book Trailer for Beneath the Skin
Beneath the Skin is Here! Look what arrived yesterday! A whole box of my hot off-the-press romantic suspense Beneath the Skin. I have published books before, but I think this was the most exciting of all my books. It has taken me seven years to move from non-fiction writing to fiction writing. I have taken … More Beneath the Skin is Available for Pre-Order
It’s coming. It’s almost here. My first romantic suspense, Beneath the Skin, will be available for pre-orders any day now, and I am having a Pre-Order Round-Up party on my Facebook Fan Page. Come join the party! Every day there will be a new question, a new poll, a new challenge, or a request for an … More There’s a Party Going on for Beneath the Skin!
Calling all readers! I have just heard. The worldwide release date for my romantic suspense Beneath the Skin is June 17th, 2016. On that date, Beneath the Skin will be available for purchase through Wild Rose Press as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major book distributors. It will be offered as an e-book … More Beneath the Skin Coming June 17th
