Every now and then we need to stop and take stock.  Ask ourselves the hard questions about our lives, how we’re spending them, and to actually focus on those questions long enough to answer them.  Honestly.
It’s easy to get caught up in everyday life, and to not focus on the things really important to us. [...]

Celebrating the upcoming release of FORGET ME NOT with a contest for a free netbook. Enter @ www.vickihinze.com

This week’s feature at Chapter 1 Zone is Alan Wyler’s DEADLY ERROR. You can read the first chapter at: chapter1zone.com

Divas, of course we love books.  As a Special Project, I’ve launched a site called Chapter 1 Zone to help readers connect with authors through the first chapter of their books.
There’ll be a new chapter 1 posted every week.  This week, the feature is JAMES ROLLINS’ ALTAR OF EDEN.
As well as reading a new first [...]

A child inspired me. I never saw her. Her grandfather and I are members of Emerald Coast Writers and in a pre-meeting discussion we were fawning over our grandkids, as grandparents are licensed (and fully expected) to do.
He had taken his family on a vacation and he and his granddaughter, who is six, were out [...]

Lately, I’ve been on deadline and focusing on writing. Things have stacked up. This morning I walked into my office and was stunned that on this six-foot-long desktop, I couldn’t see the surface.
I had commitments today, but tomorrow, I will declutter, handling things once.
Which led me to thinking about mentally decluttering.
We all work [...]

 
Writers connect characters to readers through emotions.  That makes it vital to understand them.  Otherwise, the odds diminish of depicting them accurately or of having the reader react to whatever is depicted the way the writer intends they react.
 
We live in an age of rage.  Where people once reacted with restraint, today they are far [...]

    
I’m asked that question often, and my response is always that the first thing to look for is within.  It is how you view the relationship. 
Many will say your editor isn’t your friend.  My experience says I’ve been friends with every editor with whom I’ve worked.  I’ve been closer with some than with others, but [...]

DO YOU BELIEVE IN HOLIDAY MAGIC?
I do believe. I do, I do, I do…  I suppose that whether or not you believe in holiday magic depends on whether or not you believe in magic at all, and on your personal definition of magic.
In my definition, magic and miracle are synonymous and, I believe, originate from the [...]