Most authors have several manuscripts gathering dust in their drawers. These are our unsold babies, books we wrote along the journey to becoming a published author. Are they really that bad, or were they merely not ready for the right market at the right time? Aside from the corrections that our more skilled eye could … Read more
Enola Holmes is back! Nancy Springer’s nationally bestselling series and breakout Netflix sensation returns to beguile readers young and old in Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche. NANCY SPRINGER is the author of the nationally bestselling Enola Holmes novels, including The Case of the Missing Marquess, which was made into the hit Netflix movie, Enola … Read more
This past weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the “And the Women Gather” Annual Literary Event in Deland, FL sponsored by Desert Sage, a lifestyle wellness company. We left the house early to arrive in plenty of time for the book event, especially when I saw there was a Tuesday Morning store along … Read more
Have you noticed how the size of your favorite brand items in the stores have shrunk while the prices remain the same or are higher? You’ve probably observed how your grocery bill has increased while portion sizes have gotten smaller. While I was writing A Bad Hair Day Cookbook, I had to adjust recipes that … Read more
I am excited to announce the release of The Bad Hair Day Mysteries Box Set Volume Three: Books 7-9 Copyright © 2021 by Nancy J. Cohen Published by Orange Grove Press Digital ISBN: 978-1-952886-18-8 Cover Design by The Killion Group, Inc. Digital Layout by Formatting4u.com Meet Marla Shore, a Florida hairstylist and salon owner with … Read more
When writing a mystery, it’s crucial to tie up any loose ends by the end of the story. You don’t want to leave readers hanging on what some incident or snatch of dialogue might have meant when they finish the book. There are several ways for you to keep track of these plot threads. You … Read more
When writing a cozy mystery, you need to decide upon crime scene details even though interpersonal relations, and not forensics, are your story’s focus. The murder might even be off scene, but you’ll still have to determine how it happened. In Trimmed to Death, the story begins at a farm festival bake-off contest, which my … Read more
When writing a cozy mystery, you need to identify the victim and then figure out who has something to gain from this person’s death. It can be friends, relatives, or colleagues. Give each person a secret that may or may not provide a motive for murder. Next figure out how these people relate to each … Read more
During the Discovery phase of your novel, which I discuss in my post on Five Stages of Writing, you’ll begin formulating the characters. If you’re writing a mystery series, you may already know the protagonists and recurrent characters. So now you have to determine the suspects that are specific to your WIP (work-in-progress). As a … Read more
Book collections take up a lot of space, especially when they’re print books. If you have a large number of books, you may stack them haphazardly or sort them into alphabetical order by author or perhaps by genre. I prefer the latter method. If you’ve been hearing from me more sparsely these days, it’s because … Read more