COVID-19 A Toll Taken On All

Sandra Mansfield Wright

COVID-19 has taken its toll on everyone in different ways. The virus scare has changed our perceptions and thinking in general. How we people can be led to do things totally out of character and even sometimes against our beliefs is unsettling. Because we have been told so much contradictory information throughout the pandemic, we did not know who to believe. Our faith in people of leadership has been tested and shaken. People and organizations previously trusted, we are now questioning. Our very value and faith systems have been tried through this. Even people within ones’ own family hold different views on the virus situation in America. We all at times have been afraid, disappointed, worried, and even angry.

I feel the isolation and “social distancing” mandated for several months caused me to realize, probably for the first time in my entire life, how blessed I have been up until this time. Having family and friends near to hug, to hold, and to interact with was something I once took for granted, but never will again. Just a simple handshake to an acquaintance no longer will go unappreciated. I am a hugger, and the lack of interaction with fellow human beings caused a deep sadness and loss in my life.

On the positive side, the staying at home caused me to write two new books which were published this year. The first one, Gentleness, I began writing because I felt people had forgotten how to “play well with others” and get along. We, as a society, seemed to have lost the ability to allow others to have opinions different from our own without hate and bitterness. The second book, Strength, began while in isolation when I found myself singing the old hymns of faith out loud as I went around my home. I send a scripture and prayer text to a group every day. During this time of isolation, to these I added a hymn which went along with the scripture and prayer. There was such a positive response to this, the idea came to incorporate this into a book. If these helped me and helped my loved ones, then they might help others who were fearful, lonely, or troubled. So, even though the pandemic and isolation were meant for bad, God used the time for good in my life. The very writing of these two books got me through this difficult time. In writing and research for the two books, I found myself strengthened and encouraged.

Along with many of you, I saw great positives come out of the pandemic isolation. The seclusion seemed to bring out hidden talents and creativity in people all over the country. People thought of new ways to communicate, gather together yet keep their distance, work from home in new ways, have creative family bonding time, and reach out through music and writing.

Let us all appreciate and be thankful for the little everyday things which make our lives good. After this time of social isolation, I know I will never take for granted a smile (without a mask) and a hug from a loved one or friend.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant 

it for good in order to bring about this present result.”  Genesis 50: 20 (NASB) 

After retiring from her career in real estate, Sandra Mansfield Wright became an interior designer for the heart. She writes and speaks on the subject of joy and provides practical ways to bring joy more fully into the lives of her listeners.

She is the author of the book Strength; the book Gentleness; Growing in Hope; The Posture of Hope; Little Gifts of Joy and 365 Daily Gifts of Joy. 

Learn more about Sandra at www.sandramansfieldwright.com and visit her blog

https://sandramansfieldwright.com/my-blog

My Vacation From Writing

 Richard L. Mabry, M.D.

When I was under contract with a traditional publisher, I had a deadline. It was a two-edged sword, but on balance it was comforting to have it. My contract called for a book every six to eight months, and I always hit that time frame. The deadline was always there, and it gave my life organization (and me a bit of a push).


Then, due to circumstances that (at the time) seemed unfortunate, the three-book contract I had with a publisher fell through and I found myself at loose ends. Not only that, it seemed that I was unable to hook on with another house. At that point, I had already dipped my toe—or perhaps I should say, my pen—into indie publishing with several novellas. Why not go that route with my novels? So, I did.


For the first time I was under no deadline except the self-imposed ones I set for myself. And although there were definite drawbacks to being responsible for every word that got published, I enjoyed the freedom from deadlines that the change gave me. Of course, there was still self-doubt, and I went back and forth with myself about the benefits of having a publisher behind me. I spent some time with my agent (yes, even an indie author has an agent) discussing the pros and cons of my situation. And then the corona virus pandemic hit, and everything changed!


The deeper we were in the pandemic, the less time I devoted to writing. As time went on, I felt less and less impetus to sit down in my office to write. It was easy enough for me to say, “I’ll do it tomorrow—or the next day.” After all, I was retired. I didn’t have a deadline to meet. So, I put it off.


With no deadline pushing me, I discovered that writing wasn’t as important to me as it had once been….at least, for the time being. I’d thought originally that the novel I’d begun working on would be published in the late fall, about six or eight months after the last one. But I found myself pushing that self-imposed deadline further and further into the future.


I don’t think I’d lost my “calling” to write—something that certainly came from the Lord—but I’d become involved in what was becoming the “new normal” that we were hearing about. And for me that included my putting writing aside. But it didn’t keep me from thinking. I found some areas opening to me that I hadn’t considered before. And my novel continued to take shape in my mind, if not on my computer.


I found out that I wasn’t alone among my colleagues in having difficulty writing during this time. Do I regret taking some time off from my writing? Not really. Because I was free from the limits imposed by a deadline, there was plenty of time to think, to refresh myself, to get a proper perspective. I hope now to adjust and meet my self-imposed deadline and provide the insight that I want to give—that the Lord meets us wherever we are, fulfills our needs (but not necessarily our wants), and can help us handle our problems. And perhaps this time away from putting ideas onto paper was exactly what I needed to put it all in perspective.


If you’ve found it difficult to sit down at the computer and compose during the pandemic, perhaps you’ll find it all for the best. That’s how it’s worked out for me.

Dr. Richard Mabry is a retired physician, now writing “medical suspense with heart.” His previously published novels have garnered critical acclaim and been recognized by programs including the ACFW’s Carol Award, the Romantic Times’ Inspirational Book of the Year and its Reviewers’ Choice, the Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and the Selah Award.

 

His last book was Critical Decision. He is currently working on another novel of romantic medical suspense, Medical Mystery, which involves a nurse and doctor whose relationship centers around her mother’s physical heart problems and her own emotional ones. It will probably release next spring.  Visit at http://www.rmabry.com/

 

The Purpose of the Evangelical Poet

 Sara Robinson

Back in an earlier column I discussed what it meant to take a journey as a spiritual poet.

Often in writing it can be difficult to separate the spiritual from the religious and from evangelism. But with evangelism defined more broadly we can give our writing a chance to take strong positions and use our verse to spread a more public view. Thus, we connect with a larger audience and tap into a grander conscience.


I realize that for most of us writing on this scale could be unsettling, more risk that we want to take. But my purpose here is to show how vast poetry can be. It is your own choice to decide how large you want your writing to encompass. Not everyone can be a Walt Whitman, or a Richard Blanco. But there is plenty of room for big ideas as well as small ones. The essential change in our writing takes place when we write in the third person POV, the “we” replaces the “I.” And unlike Blanco, we may not be called on to write a poem which is the ultimate public poem that was an evangelistic call to Americans. Look closely at this line, “All of us as vital as the one light we move through…”, from his Inauguration (for Barack Obama) poem, One Today. We hope to have words in our toolbox that enables us to write grandly of our lives, our country, and even our faith.


There are no more powerful metaphors for the strength of our emotions than those we find in nature. If we want our poetry to expand the public experience and draw society to us, then using our love of nature is a natural choice. The mighty Sequoia does not just shade the tiny mouse, it represents the strength and endurance of all of us. For those who believe in a higher power, the evidence of sunsets, shooting stars, trees blooming, baby animals, and the mysterious oceans, the ability to convey this as integral to the human experience is a type of evangelism. People and poetry, the perfect combination which gives us such a broad purpose. We have many chances to spread our verse.

                                                     

 

Sara M. Robinson, founder of the Lonesome Mountain Pro(s)e Writers’ Workshop, and former Instructor of a course on Contemporary American Poets at UVA-OLLI, is poetry columnist for Southern Writers Magazine and poetry editor for Virginia Literary Journal. In addition to publication in various anthologies, including We Grew Wings and Flew (2014), Scratching Against the Fabric (2015), and Virginia Writer’s Club Centennial Anthology (2017); journals: Loch Raven Review, The Virginia Literary Journal, vox poetica, Jimson Weed, Whisky Advocate, and Poetica, she is poet and author of Love Always, Hobby and Jessie (2009), Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool (2012), A Cruise in Rare Waters (2013), and Stones for Words (2014). Her latest poetry book, Sometimes the Little Town, released in February 2016, was a finalist for the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2017 Book Award.

 https://saramrobinson.com.                                                 

Burden of Proof

Davis Bunn

Burden of Proof, as its name suggests, is a courtroom drama. This is also a story about reliving past mistakes. In that sense, it is a novel based upon the 'what if' scenario of time travel.

But none of that is what I want to talk about here.

My earliest memories are all about the ocean. My grandfather was one of the very first homebuilders on North Carolina's Outer Banks. I remember as a kid, my grandfather sold off lots in the middle of the island, just square portions of bare sand off the one north-south highway running through Kill Devil Hills. The price? I hope you're sitting down. A half-acre went for eleven hundred dollars. If they had my grandfather build their cottage, he threw in the land for free.

Just like today, right?

Finding Hope When You Don’t Like Your Story

Heather M. Dixon

I hung up the phone and sat on the couch to absorb the news. I looked into my husband’s eyes but said nothing. Tears were the only language we could speak at the moment. We knew this phone call was coming. And we intuitively knew what the doctor would say. Finally, after years of mysterious major medical events, we had a name for my story.

Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

It was my mother’s story too, but she never got to tell it. My family had accepted that her untimely death at the age of thirty-seven was due to an unknown illness. But after the phone call from my geneticist on that gray, January day, we knew that my story was her story.

I had inherited a rare, genetic connective tissue disorder from her, one that causes major medical events and threatens a shortened life expectancy. So far because of Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, I have experience pre-term labor and delivery, a ruptured colon, a miscarriage, a partial kidney infarction, and a ruptured carotid artery. There is no cure or treatment for my disorder, only a recommendation from my doctor to prepare my bucket list and live my life well.

What do we do with stories we didn’t choose and don’t like?

My diagnosis wasn’t the only hard story I had to rebound from. Several years prior to that, my father died suddenly in a car accident. Like a tsunami, the grief washed over me, and I let it change my heart. Bitter and broken, I turned away from my faith.

Standing in the middle of my living room floor, I whispered to God, “I hate you.”

In that moment, I felt very much like Naomi, a character from the book of Ruth who understood living with a story that is not easy. I had read in the Bible that God was always working for my good, and I was expected to believe it. But I questioned whether that was true for me. Maybe God meant that verse for someone else, surely not for someone with my story.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28 NIV

The goodness of God rolls comfortably off our tongues when life is pleasant but proclaiming the truth of Romans 8:28 when we are carrying difficult stories can feel nearly impossible.

Except that with Jesus, nothing is impossible.

In a way that only He could orchestrate, Jesus lovingly wooed me back into a close and personal relationship with Him after the death of my father. And after my diagnosis, He turned one of the hardest seasons of my life into one of the sweetest. Every moment now is precious. Every memory is priceless. For every day that I am given on this earth, I’m so thankful. I still carry my hard story, but now I let Jesus do the heavy lifting.

When we’re given a story, we didn’t choose and don’t like, we can let bitterness consume us or we can turn to Jesus and trust Him to renew it. I wonder if we were sitting down with Naomi right now, might she say the same thing? As a woman who had lost both her husband and her two sons, forced to provide for herself in a time when women were hardly self-reliant, Naomi understood the heartache of authentic, raw grief. She knew the life-altering path of a story you can’t change.

Maybe you do too.

Here’s what I want us both to remember about Naomi’s story today: she also witnessed a God who moved in her details, coordinating circumstances in her favor even when she couldn’t see it. He was always working for her good as He moved her from a place of bitterness to renewed joy.

The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. – Ruth 4:14-15a NIV

Can you see God moving in your story today? If not, would you be bold enough to trust that He is there, with you right now? The same God that moved in Naomi’s story is moving in yours. He is arranging things behind the scenes to renew your heart.

You may not be carrying a life-threatening medical condition, but all our stories cry out for our need for the Savior and His redeeming love. If you think that your marriage is lost, Jesus can redeem it. If you have no idea how to restore a broken friendship, Jesus can redeem it. If you think you’ve made far too many mistakes, Jesus can redeem them all. If you are facing suffering and hardship that seems too difficult to face alone, Jesus longs to do it with you. Will you trust Him today?

Your story isn’t over. It ends with hope. Even now, God is working to renew it.

Heather M. Dixon is an author, speaker, and Bible teacher who is passionate about encouraging and equipping women to trust in God, face their greatest fears, and live with hope, especially in the midst of difficult circumstances.

When she is not blogging at The Rescued Letters or speaking at women’s conferences and events, Dixon loves to make the most of everyday moments such as cooking for her husband and son, brainstorming all the possible ways to organize Legos and superheroes, checking out way too many library books, or unashamedly indulging
in her love for all things Disney.

Dixon is a regular contributor to Journey magazine and the author of women’s Bible studies, Determined: Living Like Jesus in Every Moment and Renewed: Finding Hope When You Don’t Like Your Story.

Visit Heather M. Dixon online at therescuedletters.com. She can also be found on Facebook (Heather M. Dixon – The Rescued Letters), Twitter (@rescuedletters), and Instagram (@rescuedletters).

The Story Behind ~The Escape

Lisa Harris

As a reader, I’ve always loved romantic suspense, so when I started writing, choosing this genre was a perfect fit for me. I love the layers involved in creating a novel that reaches deeper than simply solving a crime. It is a process of creating characters with a compelling backstory and romance, as well as building a unique setting around a high-stakes story. I also enjoy knowing that even when everything can’t be tied up in a neat bow at the end, I can still ensure that justice is served and the good guys win. But that doesn’t always mean that the journey to justice is easy, and that certainly holds true for my upcoming novel, The Escape.


The Escape puts two US Marshals in the middle of a dangerous fugitive hunt, but Madison James is also dealing with the death of her husband. It’s been five years since his murder, and she still has no solid leads on who killed him, or who has been sending her one black rose every year on the anniversary of his death. And no idea why this year, a rose was left in her house, on her bed.

TIME AFTER TIME

Kay DiBianca

People occasionally ask me why I chose a watch as the theme of my cozy mystery series. It wasn’t intentional. Perhaps it bubbled up from my subconscious since I’m fascinated with the concept of time, that peculiar dimension that can be a cruel, though always equitable, task master.

Time is a valuable asset that we all own. We can exchange it wisely for a job well done, or we can waste it on foolish endeavors, but we can’t put it in the bank and withdraw it later when we’re ready for more. And despite what our science-fiction-writing friends tell us, time only moves in one direction.

I remember exactly where I was when I decided to write my first novel, The Watch on the Fencepost. I was running in a park while listening to an audiobook in my favorite genre, mystery. I had been listening to the book over several outings, and I came to the conclusion that I could write a story as interesting as the enjoyable one I was hearing through my earbuds.

As I passed by a long fence bordering a pasture, I developed the basic outline for my story. The main character would be a young woman, a runner of course, who would be training for a marathon as a way to cope with the sorrow of her parents’ recent deaths in an automobile accident. During her outing, she would find something left on a fencepost that would pique her curiosity and propel her into a quest to find the truth behind her parents’ untimely deaths.

I don’t recall exactly why I decided a watch would be the artifact she would find on the fencepost, but the idea fit into the mystery. As she gazes at the watch, the main character muses over a quote from one of her English professors who was fond of saying, “With time all things are revealed.” A good premonition for a murder mystery.

As I fleshed out that first novel, I decided the use of a timepiece was a worthy theme, and my husband came up with the title The Watch on the Fencepost. The book includes a series of clues that were left for one purpose, but ended up serving another. The first of these cryptic clues has to do with light, and that was the secondary theme in the book. Of course, mysteries are by definition shrouded in darkness, so the idea of light shining through to reveal the truth intrigued me.

As we neared publication in 2019, I began to work on the plot for a second book in the series entitled Dead Man’s Watch. A watch plays an important part in that story as well. Time is of the essence as the two main characters, Kathryn and Cece, try to prove the innocence of a man accused of murder by finding the real killer. The secondary theme of this book is “determination,” a theme most novel writers are familiar with. Dead Man’s Watch was released in September 2020.

I’m working on the third book in the series now. I’m thinking of doing a little experimentation with the characters in this one, but It will certainly have a timepiece as an important element in the story.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have a theme for your book or series? What made you decide on your theme?

Kay DiBianca is a bestselling author who loves to create literary puzzles for her readers to solve. Her characters come to life as they struggle to solve mysteries and create relationships amidst the ongoing themes of faith and family. Her first novel, The Watch on the Fencepost, won an Illumination Award for General Fiction and an Eric Hoffer Award for Mystery. The second book in the Watch series, Dead Man’s Watch, was released in September 2020.

Kay is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime. An avid runner, she can often be found at a nearby track, on the treadmill, or at a large park near her home. Her background in software development fuels her fascination with puzzles and mysteries, and her dedication to running helps supply the endurance and energy she needs to write about them!

Kay and her husband, Frank, live, run, and write in Memphis, Tennessee.

You can connect with Kay through her website at https://kaydibianca.com.

 

Jealousy and Envy! Character Flaws.

Susan Reichert

Jealousy we find refers to feelings of insecurity, fear, concern of not having possessions. So, we feel this emotion towards others. It usually brings out emotions such as anger, resentment of others, and feelings of inadequacy, just to mention a few.

This feeling comes out of a lack of trust, in life, and in others as breeds insecurity.

Building these traits into one or more characters creates a complexity in the story. We can bring about all sorts of problems for our protagonist to deal with. We get to weave stories around these emotions and show a great way for people to deal with these elements in their own lives.

One story that stands out is Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It is the scene where Amy, the youngest march sister, goes into a jealous rage because she must stay home while her two elder sisters get to go to the theater. She burns her sister Jo’s manuscript Jo was working on

One of my favorite literature moments of jealousy is in Little Women in which Amy, the youngest March sister, in a jealous rage because she must stay home, and her two eldest sisters go to the theater. Amy’s rage of jealousy causes her to burn her sister Jo’s manuscript while she is at the theater. The one Jo was working on hoping to finish before her father returned home.

Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune.
Most will say Shakespeare’s character, Lago in Othello personifies envy. He constructs an evil plan that has no bounds because of his envy due to Othello promoting Cassio over him. We can see from Shakespeare’s Othello, envy at its worst.

We can see how using these character flaws can create fiction that will keep our readers glued to the stories we write.

While in reali life we do not want these trails in us, when writing stories these flaws can create friction that is much needed.

What other flaws can you think of that one could add to the characters to cause friction?

Susan Reichert is the author of God's Prayer Power, and Storms in Life.

She is the retired creator and publisher of Southern Writers Magazine.

Currently heads Southern Author Services and Suite T and is the founder and President of  Collierville Christian Writers Group. (CCWriters Group)

Susan and her husband live in Tennessee and have four grown daughters.

When Opposite Worlds Collide

Mary Alford

Hi everyone, I am Mary Alford here, and I’m happy to be here with you. I’m a Christian Suspense author who also writes Amish Suspense. Both genres spotlight God’s love and forgiveness and I’m am blessed to be able to share God’s wonderous love in a small way.

When you think about the Amish, your mind normally goes to a simpler way of life. Gentle stories of faith and love. Hard work, and a place where the outside Englisch world and its cares are kept at bay.

But happens when you toss in a little suspense into the mix?

Bestowing Justice Through Fiction

 Ed Protzel

The South is a fertile landscape for fiction writers. Rich and complex in history, populated by high civilization alongside terrible poverty and subjugation, it’s no wonder I was attracted to the historical South when I set out to write my DarkHorse Trilogy.

The trilogy tells the story of Durksen Hurst, an idealistic abolitionist/hustler/drifter, and his Black friends as they traverse slavery in Mississippi (book 1, The Lies That Bind), serve the Union army in Civil War Missouri (book 2, Honor Among Outcasts), and return to Mississippi after the war to begin their lives anew (book 3, Something in Madness — being released Oct. 23).

But unlike so many Southern writers, the road to creating my DarkHorse Trilogy began on the West Coast when I was writing screenplays in Los Angeles. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Do Editors Fix All Mistakes?

 W. Terry Whalin                @terrywhalin

                                

Among writers in the publishing community, there is a false belief that my submission does not have to be perfect because the editor will fix any mistakes. After all, isn’t that what editors do?

While I’ve been an editor for decades, I’ve also been a writer. I believe it is important for writers to understand some of what editors face. A key responsibility for every editor is to produce the best possible magazine or book for their company. They want every publication to be as excellent as possible. In their search for content, they are looking for the best possible writing for their particular audience. To catch their attention, you want your submission to be a fit for what they need and as enticing as possible.

There is an old yet true saying, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” The first impression from your submission is a critical factor. As a writer, you do not want to be missing some crucial element for the editor. The hardest missing element to find with your submission is something that is not there.

Another important element for you to know about editors is many editors are not writers. Yes they write emails or guidelines but they do not write for publication (magazine or books). Their expertise is in management of workflow and excellent editing skills. Also a number of my editor colleagues do not teach workshops at writers’ conference. It is simply not in their skill set. These individuals can recognize excellent writing and can adjust your writing but not create it in the first place which is a different skill.

Recently I spoke with a bestselling author and asked about her forthcoming books. She admitted that she had no forthcoming books because she had not written a book proposal or made a pitch through a query letter. If you want to be published at a magazine or publisher, you have to learn how to craft an enticing book proposal or query letter then be pitching it consistently until you find an editor who is interested. Every magazine and publisher has expectations about what they need. They spell out these expectations in their guidelines which are often on their website. The simple steps are to study their guidelines and what they publish, and then send the editor what they need.

While writing is a creative endeavor, publishing is a business. As you understand the business, marketing and selling aspects of publishing, this information will feed into your submission and you will become more of the type of writer that editors want to work with and publish.

I’ve been in some of the top literary agencies and publishers in the United States, the good news is every one of these professional colleagues are actively looking for quality writing—whether they send you a response or not. Each person is actively reading their email and their physical mail looking for the right fit. If you write what they need, you could be the next person that they publish.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s newest book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

The Genesis of Danger - Part 2

Irene Hannon

. . . continued from Part 1

But what I do know from the beginning with my suspense novels is that the danger level…the impending threat…the sense of menace—and malice…must be omnipresent. It can slink off-screen for a few minutes here and there, but the ominous undercurrents must always ripple just below the surface.

So how did I do that in Point of Danger?

First, let me tell you how I didn’t do it—with a high-action, high-adrenaline storyline in which the characters are in physical danger in almost every chapter. My characters are not shot at, thrown off cliffs, dumped into raging rivers, locked in airless rooms, buried alive, tied up, chased, exposed to fire—you name it—in every chapter.

While there are moments of physical danger in my books, I don’t have a life-threatening event in every scene. For me, psychological suspense is more compelling. Think Alfred Hitchcock versus James Bond. In my books, there’s a steady build to an often-explosive ending.

In Point of Danger, I use three specific technique that are part of my standard tool kit for a suspense novel to keep the danger level front and center.

First, I include multiple points of view in addition to the hero and heroine. I take readers into the heads of several characters, all of whom have a potential motive for wanting Eve gone. So, I keep the audience guessing about who’s behind the threats all the way through the book.

Second, I try to end every scene with a foreshadowing statement. A suggestion that more danger is ahead.

Here’s an example:

“Because confident as she was in her ability to stand up to intimidation, it would be comforting to have someone like Brent in her corner if by chance today’s prank morphed into a much more ominous threat.”

This plants the notion in the readers’ minds that the prank probably will morph into something more ominous—and compels them to keep reading to see what danger lies ahead.

In the next example, the police think they may have found the culprit. Everything fits. But there’s a glitch.

“The crime scenes were clean and there were no witnesses. There was no absolute proof he was their man.

Without that, he could walk.

Meaning Eve’s life could still be in danger.”

Again, I’ve planted a seed of doubt in readers’ minds to induce them to keep reading…and to suggest they shouldn’t let their guard down.

I use the same technique with the romance aspect of the book, raising questions at the end of those scenes that keep the tension high, making readers’ wonder whether Eve and Brent will manage to overcome the personal obstacles that could sabotage their relationship.

So, I use foreshadowing to sustain suspense on two levels—professional and personal—throughout the book

Finally, I choose action verbs that evoke danger whenever possible. My characters freeze…suck in a breath…snatch…bolt…leap…sprint…bound…skid. And that’s just in the first two pages. Powerful, action-oriented verbs can generate a sense of danger faster than anything else.

And that, my friends, is how I generate and sustain suspense in Point of Danger. I hope you’ll give the book a read and see for yourself that it’s possible to create a taut, gripping story without putting physical danger on every page.

Because the scariest place of all is the villain’s mind.

Irene Hannon is the bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels, including Dangerous Illusions, Hidden Peril, and Dark Ambitions, as well as the Men of Valor, Heroes of Quantico, Guardians of Justice, and Private Justice series. 

In addition to her many other honors, she is a three-time winner of the prestigious RITA Award from Romance Writers of America. She is also a member of RWA’s elite Hall of Fame and has received a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews for her entire

body of work. Each of her suspense novels have been ECPA bestsellers, and her books often appear on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list. 

Learn more at www.irenehannon.com.