First, there was construction paper and jars of paste. Then, there were number two pencils and college-ruled paper. If you were a well organized teen, you might have even had a Trapper Keeper. (Do they even still make Trapper Keepers?) It’s not just students who enjoy the thrill of fresh, new school supplies. This week, the Chicks talk about their writing essentials!
Continue reading “Back to School: School Supplies for Writers”
How are these for opening shots? On the left you see Pogo. The white furbaby in the picture on the right is Wiley. Both were adopted from the Amanda Foundation, an animal rescue in Beverly Hills. I tell my husband all the time, “It’s the dogs or anti-depressants.” And I’m not kidding. I love my dogs. Like, crazy love them. Lucy, the first dog we … Continue reading And they call it puppy love
Whenever anyone called me “young lady” as a kid, I knew I was in trouble. Mostly for not acting like a lady—whatever that meant. From what I understood, ladies smiled a lot and never interrupted. They wore pearls and perfume and little black dresses. They kept their legs crossed at the ankles and ate a lot of salad. It also helped if they were dead ringers … Continue reading How NOT to Get Away with Murder: 8 Perfect Ladies You Don’t Want to Mess With
To be honest, I didn’t really do the Romance Writers of America convention. But I couldn’t resist an opportunity to pay homage to the iconic porn movie title, Debbie Does Dallas. Anyhoo, this year I had the great good fortune of having my debut mystery, Plantation Shudders, nominated for a Daphne Award in the category of Best Mainstream Mystery. The Daphne’s are sponsored by Kiss … Continue reading Ellen Does RWA
The internet makes it all too easy to act in haste, whether it’s a careless “Reply all” or a click of a button that wasn’t quite ready to be clicked. (Perhaps it’s even a premature blog post… if you’ve ever gotten an email alert from us, then clicked to find there was nothing there, odds are, that’s exactly what happened!) We’re sharing our most embarrassing online moments—and we want to hear yours, too!
Continue reading “Our Most Embarrassing Online Moments”
Summer’s officially here, and students everywhere are out getting their feet wet in the job pool, earning valuable job experience—or at least a few good stories they can tell their grandkids one day. This week at Chicks on the Case, we’re reminiscing about our early employment, from first jobs to summer internships.
Continue reading “Before we were writers: our first summer jobs”
So what if our sleuths went off on vacay (hey, even fictional detectives deserve a break every now and then) and left another character in charge of their cases? It’s Freaky Friday at Chicks on the Case–read on to find out who’s saying, “I’m the crime solver now!”
Continue reading “The Protagonist Trap: Our Sleuths Trade Places”
I’ve always been an avid reader. I have a small scar on my forehead from where I walked into a tree as a kid while I was deep into a book. When I gave birth to our daughter, I promised myself two things: she would never be a bully and she would always be a reader. These days, the former is easier than the latter, … Continue reading My daughter the reader.
Pulling together outfits is half the fun of going to a mystery convention or conference… at least for us authors. But do our characters feel the same way? Read on to find out! Ellen Byron After much outfit sturm und drang, and some seriously embarrassing choices – ill-fitting jeans and a Tulane Green Wave tee shirt, anyone? – I’ve landed on a theme suggested by … Continue reading Fashion Police: What Would Our Characters Wear to a Mystery Convention?
We invited this year’s nominees for the Agatha Best First Novel award to fantasize about what film or TV stars they’d cast in their mysteries should Hollywood come calling. TESSA ARLEN: Aha, I have already done this exercise with the wonderful Marshal Zeringue over a year ago. It is such a great question. So, for Clementine Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Montfort -my amateur sleuth, who … Continue reading Casting Call for Agatha Best First Novel Nominees
It can be kind of exciting when you meet a celebrity in real life (as long as they don’t give you the old “Do you know who I am?” attitude). But even more fun is when you bump into them in an unexpected place and have a totally random encounter. Today we’re spilling all on our favorite celebrity sightings — and we want to hear about yours in the comments!
Continue reading “Random Star Sightings”
Let’s be honest. We don’t always follow every gem of literary advice we’ve been given, even if we probably should. Today we’re talking about the rule we Chicks break on a regular basis—and we invite you to join the conversation in the comments below!
Continue reading “Which Writing Rules Are Made to be Broken?”
Chicks on the Case 