A very good friend from my years in northern California is the poet Lauren Scott. (lscotthoughts.com). We are both writers, but while she writes pieces with minimal words, I write full-length novels. Not much overlap, right? Wrong. The truth is, long-form writers and poets have quite a bit in common: We both love words. I mean love them. I know that even though she may write a first draft intuitively, Lauren considers every single word that goes into every single poem she writes. ... VIEW POST
What does an Authentic Italian Wedding Look Like? (Part Two)
The wedding I include in The Lair is small, family-centered and casual. But, like everywhere else in the world, Italian weddings vary by size and opulence, depending on the budget and mindset of the bride and groom (and often, their families, whether the couple likes it or not!). Here are a few more elements to a real Italian wedding: Arriving at the church. In traditional Catholic weddings, the bride (who hasn’t been seen by the groom, remember) is usually walked down the aisle by her ... VIEW POST
What Does an Authentic Italian Wedding Look Like? (Part One)
Despite our modern sensibilities, marriage is still the ultimate goal for the vast majority of those who fall in love around the world. At the end of my new romantic suspense novel, The Lair, which takes place in Verona, Italy, two characters get married (not going to tell you which two, you’ll just have to read the book to find out!). To research that scene and the brief lead-in to it, I read up on what makes Italian weddings, well … Italian. I found many traditions that Italians ... VIEW POST
How Flawed Can Today’s Romantic Hero Be?
Everyone who understands fiction knows that the romance genre offers stories in which two people (not necessarily a man and a woman anymore!) work through their struggles to achieve a lasting love relationship. Usually, one of those characters is a heroine, and one a hero. It’s the hero who interests me in this post. I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately: in today’s world, who is he, really? What kind of person can he be in order to both embody the essence of the genre and still be ... VIEW POST
What Does A Veronese Eat?
I love food (too much, it turns out). And one of my favorite cuisines is Italian. So when writing a novel based in Verona, Italy, of course I had to include some dining scenes with characters enjoying dishes that were at least Italian, if not precisely from Verona. I had to do a bit of research about what a Veronese (a person from Verona) eats. I had some fun with it. My main character, Dani Dunn, who is originally from Verona, runs an inn and restaurant in the bayside village of Little Eden ... VIEW POST
The Many Challenges of Writing The Lair
My latest contemporary romantic suspense novel, The Lair, now available for pre-order, stands on its own, which means you don’t have to have read my other books to immerse yourself in the story. However, the main characters and part of the plot are connected to the other volumes in my far-reaching “Sinner’s Grove” series. Writing a multi-faceted, even genre-crossing story whose books are independent yet interwoven, poses a whole host of challenges, but for The Lair, that was only the ... VIEW POST
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