Today is DAY 6 of the release fun for the first book in the Ever After Mysteries, The Last Gasp. I’m extra excited because it’s my book! To celebrate the release, all the Ever After authors are doing a short blog hop, complete with a mini-mystery and prizes. We're trying to discover who stole the Continue Reading
Characters
What Happens When Your Little Sister’s Best Friend Becomes Yours?
As I’ve been working through the Madeline books, I realized that Madeline’s best friend is now her “best friend’s” brother. And vice versa! This of course, made me wonder if Russell knows it yet. So, I decided to ask him about it… and a few other things. Let’s get right at it. Note: links Continue Reading
How Do You Talk Your Best Friend Out of an Insane Idea?
He wasn’t supposed to be a major character. I pictured him sweet. Kind. The sidekick best guy friend who showed up to save the day now and then. Because everyone needs a sidekick best friend to save you from yourself, right? But the first thing Joel Hudson did was kick off an inciting event in Continue Reading
How a Dear Friend Inspired an Interesting Minor Character
I met her on a homeschool message board—one of those old-school things where great long multi-nested threads went on and on about everything from math curricula to that oh, so annoying, “But what about socialization?” question. She was a quiltmaker. So was I. She loved dressmaking. So did I. Continue Reading
What Happens When I Interview One of the Prairie Characters?
“How did you get the idea for the Journey of Dreams series?” It wasn’t the first time I’d ever been asked the question. As usual, I launched into a description of the recurring dream that had prompted me to write Prairie. I told about hearing the “Theme from a Summer Place” over and over in my Continue Reading
My 5 Favorite Things about Discovering Hope
She wore saris and flip-flops. Even in twenty-degree weather, she’d push the cleaning cart from room to room at the motel wearing those flimsy saris and flip-flops. She took special care with each room—as did her husband. It was their motel, and we lived there. You see, we’d come to California Continue Reading
What Happens When a Character Dreams about the Future?
A rustle below her woke Cassie. She rolled over, stretched, and banged her hand on the wall—to her right. What? Eyes open, she sat bolt upright in bed and nearly cracked it open on a low overhang above her. “Double what?” Prattle. It hadn’t been a rustle, it was prattle—childish prattle. And Continue Reading
A Unique, Hilarious Interview with Essie from Madeline
Note: Links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you. One of the things I love to do from time to time is do an interview with some of my characters to get a feel for their take on their stories--what would they do? Why did they do this? Why did Continue Reading
Character Interview: Kaye
I thought it might be nice to check in with Kaye--see how she's doing, and find out if she has had a "freak out" thing this year or not. I mean, she had one before, and it meant a whole life overhaul, right? Chautona: Kaye? You here? Kaye: Yeah... hang on! Purrlock has my phone.... CAT! Continue Reading
3 Things I Love about Carlie (and an interview)
When I first conceived the idea of Corner Booth, that's all I had. A restaurant, a corner booth, and a guy who works there every Wednesday. Originally, Dean was an accountant with a firm in town. Carlie showed up, plopped herself into the booth, and voila! Everything changed about three thousand Continue Reading
What I Learned from a Quick Heart-to-Heart with Willow
Every day I get half a dozen emails about Willow asking questions, making observations, and begging for more. For those who have taken the time to encourage me, I really want to thank you! It’s so cool to open my email and see, “I want to BE Willow.” It assures me that I’ve accomplished my goal– Continue Reading
A Chat with Adric
One of my favorite things to do is to revisit my previous books and see if I still enjoy the characters as much as I did. So, in preparation for Ashley's promo this week, I decided to have a chat with Adric and see what I can learn. Chautona: Okay, Adric. Let's start off with the most often Continue Reading
