Today I’m delighted to host a special edition of Book Talk with four guests: Melody Carlson, Irene Hannon, Liz Johnson and Suzanne Woods Fisher. Their publisher has graciously agreed to giveaway a copy of each of their most recent books. Entering is simple. Just use the form below. Here’s more about their most recent sweet contemporary romance novels: Join @cara_putman …
Restarting the Writing Process: Behind the Scenes
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to have to spend significant time this summer writing. Just last week I signed a three-book deal for a new legal, romantic suspense series in addition to the WWII novellas I’d also signed contracts to write. It’s a process for me to restart the writing race when I’ve gotten out …
Book Talk: Collen Coble
Book Talk: Colleen Coble Listen to Colleen’s episode here. I’m delighted to introduce you to my friend and mentor Colleen Coble. She writes the best romantic suspense and is why I’m published. Many of you first found her through the Rock Harbor series, but she has written many best-selling, award-winning novels. In this video, you get to share where you …
Book Talk: Tricia Goyer
Book Talk: Tricia Goyer Listen to Tricia’s episode here. Tricia Goyer has been a writing friend, mentor, and coauthor for years. We’ve taught writing together, written a novella collection and multiple cozy mysteries together, and lived life together in so many wonderful and hard ways. She is truly one of the reasons writing has been a wonderful add-on to my …
3 Character Tips We can Learn from Movies
One of the classes I have taught at Krannert is Persuasion & Communications, a class for Masters of Marketing students. One lens I use as I teach these students is the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs. He uses the mythological construct of the Hero’s Journey for marketing purposes. You can watch a short video on it here. Then I transition …
Book Talk: Liz Tolsma
Book Talk: Liz Tolsma Listen to Liz’s episode here. Y’all, I adore Liz Tolsma. She is such a wonderful person and writer. She writes one of my favorite genres (WWII) but also writes dual timelines and more. Tonight we talked about her newest novel A Promise Engraved and the fun and challenges of getting the right cover and novel. We …
4 Questions to Ask to Utilize Your Backlist
When you’ve been writing a while, you will reach a point where magic happens when publishers return your rights to you. It’s a magical opportunity. It can also be daunting. What questions should you ask before republishing your backlist? @cara_putman has 4 questions for you. Click To Tweet Here are four questions to ask yourself when you’re deciding what to …
Book Talk: Nicole Deese
Book Talk: Nicole Deese Listen to Nicole’s episode here. I’m delighted to introduce you to my friend Nicole Deese. Her new novel All That It Takes was released on April 5, and I have really enjoyed it. During this talk, we chat about her characters and how they were secondary characters that waved their hands for a book of their …
Which Comes First: Character or Setting?
In days, I’ll be officially starting writing on two novellas I need to start, draft, and complete before the end of June. Fortunately, each is only 30,000 words, but at the moment I haven’t written that many words since last summer. But the spring semester ends for my on Friday, and it’s time to shift my focus to writing. Which …
Shadows in the Mind’s Eye Review & Interview
There are books that come along, that don’t fit neatly in a genre yet compel the reader to wade through the pages. The writing is beautiful. The Characters broken and real. And the hope laced across the pages. Shadows in the Mind’s Eye is one of those books. In this debut novel, the author has dug deep into what it’s …








