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Hello! You’ll find posts here for readers, writers, and anyone interested in life. Check out the categories to the right for your favorite topics, or just start browsing. Sometimes I throw in a recipe or a poem, share my writer’s life, or tell you how I came up with one of your favorite characters. I’ll announce contests and share pics from events. Sometimes I delve into how to handle tough political, social or religious topics in your own books if you’re a writer, or share what I learn about the ever-evolving world of publishing. Whatever the topic, I promise to do my best not to waste your time. There’s enough clutter online without my adding to it.
I love to hear from readers, so feel free to comment on any post or write to me directly through the Contact page.
Loner or Joiner?
WRITING IS A SOLITARY OCCUPATION, so why join a writers' group? I have always made excuses for not joining one, the primary one being that I have no free time. The other, I admit, was that I just thought it would slow me down. So when a local library invited me to...
Respect Your Writing Time
How do you find time to write and hold down a full-time job? Simple question. Not so simple answer. I've posted about time management, but in a way, that's the easy part. Penciling in those neat little boxes of your calendar, or mapping out your weekly plan on your...
Talk to Me
What? You want me to do what? I admit this was my first reaction when my publicist asked me to do some radio talk show interviews. I don’t mind hard work. I don’t mind juggling my day job, family, friends, contacting book bloggers, and writing my own blog posts, while...
FREE EXTENDED PREVIEW
Enjoy a free extended preview of the first three chapters of FOREST PARK:Logan Book 2 - now available from the publisher at: iBooks: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/forest-park-free-preview/id1091524255?mt=11 Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CPTAI1E Kobo: ...
LOVE INTERESTS
HOW WONDERFUL CAN ONE MAN OR WOMAN BE? In most mysteries, no matter the sub-genre, there's almost always a love interest, however fleeting, for the main character. What bothers me about a lot of love-interest characters is they can be cloyingly perfect. I mean, no man...
5 Top Interview Tips
NO SURPRISE...as a writer, I find it easier to interview others than to be interviewed myself. Maybe when I'm rich and famous it will become second nature, but for now, I much prefer asking the questions to answering them. First-time fiction writers quickly discover...
The 25-Word Pitch
KNOWN AS THE ELEVATOR PITCH, these 25 words may be the hardest writing you've ever attempted. Say you got on an elevator with one other passenger. As the doors closed and you started to zip up to the next floor, your companion turned to you and asked, "I heard you...
Total Immersion
Most of the time, we're like leaves skittering across the surface of life, missing its cool, quiet depths. We see, but we spend very little time being still long enough to make sense of what we've seen - putting it all together. We scoot along, getting briefly wet,...
NOW AVAILABLE!
HELP SPREAD THE WORD! FOREST PARK: Logan Book 2 is now available for the promotional price of 99 cents! Please share this post with friends and families who enjoy reading Mystery/Thriller/Suspense. I appreciate every download and review. The print version will be up...
Still Looking?
STILL STRUGGLING WITH FINDING TIME TO WRITE? Take Steven Covey’s sage advice, "Schedule your priorities, don't prioritize your schedule.” When I picked up his landmark work, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE, I finally organized the scraps of paper pushed...
About Valerie
A self-admitted book addict, Valerie was the kid with the flashlight under her pillow. A life of travel with exposure to many different cultures led to a pervasive interest in people, with degrees & teaching credentials in Cultural Anthropology & English. Logan McKenna Series
