WRITING WITHOUT A NET

  Once a month I’d like to devote this space to answering some of the questions I get from readers. But first, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about a few how-tos. Let’s start with the basics: the best way to reach me is through my website’s “contact me” page.   The worst way to reach me is through Facebook or Instant Messenger.   I rarely check my Facebook page, and Instant Messenger doesn’t always go through.   I sometimes discover messages from a year ago that I never saw!    I try to respond to all comments on my blog or Facebook posts, but the chances that I’ll see them are 50/50.   So if you want to make sure I see your message, take a minute, go to my website, and click the button. Make no mistake about it, I love getting e-mail from my readers!   Who wouldn’t?   I love the pictures of your dogs, the stories you tell about how my books have affected your lives, your thoughts on how you’d like to see my stories go.  ...

“’How still the plains of waters be,” a musing, sugary voice quoted softly from behind him.  “’The tide is in his ecstasy.  The tide is at his highest height: and it is night.’  The Marshes of Glynn by Sidney Lanier.”  Corrine Watts came around to the front of the desk, gazing at the painting with him.  “It was my daddy’s favorite poem. He made all us kids memorize the whole damn thing.” --excerpt from UNFIXABLE, Blood River Series Book #1 So now you know where my next mystery series is set!-- not literally in the marshes of Glynn County, Georgia, but in its fictional south Georgia equivalent, a moody, atmospheric place thick with history, swamp gnats and secrets.   It took months for me to settle on the location of what has now become the Blood River Mystery Series.  The plot for UNFIXABLE was set in my head, as were the characters, who have been  relocated from my favorite (and I hope yours!) Raine Stockton Dog Mystery series.  But I...