On Writing

Why I Became an Indie Author

You can call us self-published. You can call us indie authors. You can call us rebels. I think I have had indie blood in me long before I watched Easy Rider and bought my first suede leather fringe jacket.

Why We Love Amateur Detectives

Not all detectives in fiction are cops. In a world of Hercule Poirot, there is room for wonderful amateur sleuths: yoga teachers, Egyptologists, ministers.

Maudie: A Romance with Art

Maudie is a quiet yet moving film about Canada’s most famous folk artist. Meet the inspiration for the artist in my book Maud’s House.

How Yoga and Patanjali Can Help Your Writing

The Yoga Sutras are guides for living a right life, but I have found they also offer new perspectives on writing.

5 Steps to a Great Book Cover

Book covers are marketing tools. They sell books. How do you create eye-catching covers? Here are a few tips.

Where Ideas Come From: A Lesson from O. Henry

Unlike O. Henry, most of us are not short story factories. But we can learn a lot from looking at how this famous writer approached storytelling.

Surviving Book Awards

There are many book award programs. Should you enter them? Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at book awards.

Book Club #2: What Is Harry Potter Without Hogwarts?

Some settings infiltrate the heart of a book. Here are some atmospheric reads to add to your book list.

Book Club #1: Why We Love Precocious Child Characters

Every parent, I don’t care who you are, loves a brilliant kid. That’s why literature has provided us with some of the most annoying and yet endearing child characters.

The Mayas: Bloodthirsty Stargazers

Ever since I named the character in my cozy mystery series, Maya, I have been intrigued with the Mayan civilization. Here are some fun facts about the Mayas of long ago.