Meet Ronald Joseph Ratzenberger, the much maligned, but barely seen, ex-husband of Claire from There Are No Men. Ron is a UPS driver, and for the most part is satisfied with his line of work, as well as his muscular physique, earned from years of working out his body more than his mind. He’s also […]
Meet Claire McDonald Ratzenberger. She’s thirty-five, and has been separated from her husband, Ron, for a year. She works in human resources at Bella Donna Press, a faltering publishing company in Richmond, VA – known for cookbooks and sweet, clean romances. She dreams of doing something more meaningful, but she’s in a bit of a […]
Almost everyone has done it. You break up. You try to find someone else, get interested in new hobbies, and spend more times with friends and family. But you see him out. You miss her. You hear your song. A picture triggers unresolved feelings. A friend says she saw him out with someone else. She […]
There’s a saying in the writing world – “write what you know.” This time-tested advice is sound in many ways. If you are going to write a mystery set in Paris, and you have no knowledge of French language or customs, you’ve never even been out of the country, and foreign police procedure is foreign […]
My debut novel, “There Are No Men,” recently enjoyed a flurry of commercial success during a promotion, reaching #15 on the Kindle Top 100 chart for Women’s Humorous Fiction. I was very excited, and MOTIVATED to keep going on my current work in progress, “Afraid of Her Shadow,” which as of this writing is at […]
No, I don’t mean babies! Or even dogs! I know there’s a reason God did not give me twins or dare I say…more? (Since I am uterus-less I can dare to say it). It was nothing short of pure mercy – more for the hypothetical children. However, I am an excellent multi-tasker. I can create […]
He means well. He’s trying to protect me. I get it. When I first saw my book, “There Are No Men,” live in the Amazon Kindle store I was thrilled, and eager to share my enthusiasm with the man I love. What else would a romance writer think to do first, right? Jim proceeded to […]
No, those are not homicidal maniacs. The police were not called – and they surely don’t let you have weapons in mug shots. Even the paper towel “doo rag” is not very realistic, particularly on a 51 year old suburban engineer who is just trying to get through MOVING DAY! (I think he was actually […]
At 46 I am past my childbearing years, especially since I had a hysterectomy almost 4 years ago. That lack of uterus is the pesky detail that slammed the door shut on any further adventures in that arena. Many women would be devastated by an earlier than typical hysterectomy, but at the time my son […]
My baby is live in the Kindle store! It’s not pink or blue, but teal and red, and it’s not exactly cute, but to me it’s the most beautiful book on Amazon.com. Writing a book, and getting it out into the world is truly a labor of love. Emphasizing the labor part. It’s an […]