Spent a few hours this morning doing research on a character in my next novel. The research involved watching a panel of speakers at The Ebell discuss the foster care system in Los Angeles. It was heartwarming to be in a crowd of people committed to helping children and families! Writing has perks and I…

I had the honor of being in the Debut Authors Program of the International Thriller Writers and attended the Thrillerfest conference at the New York Hilton Midtown from May 5-9, 2026. What a dream to be around rock star authors like Robert Dugoni, Harlan Coben, Lisa Scottoline, Karin Slaughter, Gregg Hurwitz, S. A. Cosby and…

During the pandemic, I hosted Zoom write-ins for members of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. In those meetings, Pamela Stockwell, from New Jersey, befriended Kelly Hartog from Los Angeles. A year later, and without having met in person, Pamela donated her kidney to save Kelly’s life. Six months later, at the 2022 WFWA retreat in…

This vending machine in the Sip and Sonder coffee shop in Inglewood (near Los Angeles) spits out free short stories for you to read. Well-written ones too. It’s like winning the lotto only with less money and begging relatives.