By Jenny Milchman For those of us who are parents of a certain age and stage, it’s college decision season. The months—years—maybe as much as a decade plus of hard academic work that our kids (and we!) have put in is coming to fruition. By this point in the spring, acceptances, spots on waitlists,...
FIVE LESSONS LEARNED FROM RUNNING THE FBI OBSTACLE COURSE AT QUANTICO
By Isabella Maldonado The FBI National Academy is an advanced course for law enforcement executives from around the world. For approximately three months, over 200 men and women move into college-style dorms at the FBI training campus at Quantico. The academic portion of the program is...
ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS: Whodunit?
By Z.J. Czupor On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor's new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer to be entered to win a free book. This oak chair was designed in the early 1900s by the husband of this famous author of mysteries. In fact, according to a book about the...
HOW PATIENCE PAYS OFF
By Karna Small Bodman Our Naples Public Library hosts four best-selling fiction authors a year at luncheons that draw some 600 readers and are major fund-raisers for the library. At one, the speaker was Pam Jenoff. Her latest book is Code Name Sapphire: A World War 2 Novel. Inspired by a true...
WRANGLER OR TOSSER?
Dispatches from the Desk By Tracy Clark I’ve heard stories of writers stopping two-thirds into a novel and shredding the whole thing because they weren’t happy with what they’d written. I’ve heard stories of writers who have finished an entire book, submitted it, and then asking their editor to...
RITES OF PASSAGE
By Chris Goff Officially, Spring began on March 19th and, if I'm being honest, it's beautiful in Western Michigan. We moved here a year ago and I'm still acclimating. The transition from Coloradan to Michigander has been more difficult than I ever imagined. I am a mountain girl at heart. I grew up...
ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS: WESTERNS
By Z.J. Czupor On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor's new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer of Westerns and Suspense Thrillers to be entered to win a free book. This famous author of mysteries, thrillers, and westerns once worked for an ad agency in this...
THE STAR WARS MURDERS
By Lisa Black Way back in the dark ages before personal computers on every desk and watching TV on your smartphone, in 1983, Ronald Reagan talked about starting the Strategic Defense Initiative. A bunch of satellites would float around in space and shoot down any missiles incoming from Russia and...
ANDREW KAPLAN GOES ROGUE
Once Upon a Villa By Andrew Kaplan I actually wrote the first draft of my about-to-be-released new book, Once Upon a Villa, after I hadn't written anything in a very long time. Years. I wasn't sure if I still knew how to write. So rather than try to write one of my spy thrillers, where I would...
5 PODCASTS TO INSPIRE AUTHOR SUCCESS
By Alex Kava Writing a novel is a solitary endeavor, but sometimes it helps to hear how other authors deal with the same challenges. Plus, we all could use a little inspiration once in a while. Here are five of my favorite podcasts offering conversations, information and a whole lot of...