Happy Holidays, AAR readers! My name is Debbie Baldwin, and I am the author of the Bishop Security romantic suspense series. The first novel, False Front, is currently available in print and e-book at all major online booksellers. Book Two, Illicit Intent, will hit the virtual shelves in December. […]
“The naming of cats is a difficult matter’ – T.S. Eliot
At what point do fictional characters get a name? Generally, it’s when they have to be identified in order to make it clear who another character is talking to, or who is speaking, or who is doing something.
How a name is assigned is a Process. Mine has evolved a little. […]
I have to admit, it was my love of the fairy tale romance between Prince William and Kate Middleton that prompted me to vote for London when my now husband asked where I might want to go on our first overseas trip together. There was so much more once we arrived that helped to mold a permanent place in my heart for London and inspire me to write my latest romantic comedy. […]
There’s a group on Facebook for self-published authors that I follow, and recently there was a discussion about a crowd of Amazon reviewers who piled on to criticize an author for not accounting for the coronavirus pandemic in her book, which was set (at least in part) in 2020. The book in question was published in 2019. […]
We all know that the 5 generations—Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generations—have some pretty big differences.
Although some of these may be rooted in unfair stereotypes, there’s no doubt they have different life experiences and expectations for everything from marriage to employment to entertainment. […]
A decade or so ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to perform in the ensemble of an actual stage production in an actual theater in Los Angeles.
The show was a narrative ballet based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe. It could be described as a vanity production, in the sense that the playwright was helping to finance the show. For the cast and crew, though, that was irrelevant: it was a real job, and everyone took it very seriously. […]
Everyone LOVES a good series. Characters you can root for or loathe. Plotlines that twist and turn. Emotions that run the gamut from sizzling to seething. And, best of all, the promise that there’s more to follow. […]
Music is one of the most important elements in my writing process. And the music that inspires the stories of my characters differs vastly from one book to the next. I’m not sure why this is so. It just is. While other authors might not experience this, for me, music sets the tone and the pace, making my characters move. […]
Romance novels, and romance writers, still get a lot of no respect. Why would any self-respecting, trained historian with a fairly intellectual job choose to write romance, knowing that a lot of people – even people who read romances – scoff at it? […]
My cozy mystery, Killer Chardonnay, features a vintner-turned-amateur sleuth named Parker Valentine and a dashing chef, Reid, who bring food and wine together in the most delicious way. When Parker isn’t busy solving murders, that is. […]