This was taken from a discussion with Allison Brennan and Sandra Brown, authors of romantic suspense. Every good story has to contain significant risks for the hero and heroine.  Common sense, right? The better you define those and the reader can associate with them, the more you elevate the drama. The stakes have to be [...]

I will apologize in advance for any grammar/spelling mistakes. I write these things in a hurry as I head off for the day.... I sat in on a presentation by Julia Quinn on Dialogue. If you get the chance to see her speak, she's really awesome. Great sense of humor and quite entertaining. Julia writes [...]

For those that were not able to attend the Nationals this year, I thought I'd share tidbits from the sessions I attended. I encourage you to add to this if you wish. I'll just give a nibble each time in order to spur discussion. I picked up my notes today and flipped open to a page [...]

I attended the National RWA (Romance Writer's of America) Convention in Anaheim, California last week. I was a "first timer" and had this wonderful little banner on my name tag that announced my newbie status for the world to see. I was told it would make everyone be nice to me but I didn't really [...]

I made it back from Anaheim and the RWA National Convention yesterday. What a great trip! I highly recommend everyone attend a convention of this type. It's a great place to rub elbows with established and new authors. You'll walk away very inspired. It also put me in touch with several other authors in my [...]

Okay, I bet everyone agrees that writing gives us a chance to write a character that has all our most attractive traits and none of our, ahem, less attractive ones. Right? So, pretend for a minute you're exactly the really awesome person that you think would make the best heroine ever. What traits would that [...]

Recently my husband and I decided to rent a lake house for the summer. It was a stretch for us because our schedules don’t make it easy to commit to something long term when it comes to our weekends and vacations. And yes, there was an expense involved. However, this time, with our youngest child [...]

Recently, I had the opportunity to observe a couple at the airport that interested me. They were maybe late twenties or early thirties; she leaned against his arm which he had arched behind her, cradling his head so that his cheek touched her hair. They were laughing and talking.I have no idea why they caught [...]

Received more good news today. Crimson Romance wishes to contract two  more manuscripts of mine which they anticipate will be out November 2012, and February 2013! I will give exact details when all is finalized. So exciting! Check my website to learn more: http://shelleykwall.com Here's a link to their site as well: http://crimsonromance.com