Melissa Westemeier

Working in an environment with more creature comforts and fewer distractions has been amazing.

In the olden days, I used to write like mad in the summertime and set aside my stories during the school year. When I quit teaching, it...

All fiction writers are making it up as they go along. Some of us shoot for accuracy in the details, others of us fake it all the way....

I joked to my neighbors that anyone staking out my house in May to learn the family schedule would be deeply frustrated because of travel...

Looking forward to attending the Writer's Police Academy: Killer Con June 6-9

In writing news, I took a 2 month hiatus from writing murder mysteries to work on a different project. I completed 75,000 words in this...

Heading to Bethesda, MD this weekend--hope to meet you at the Women Solving Crime panel this Friday afternoon at 4:00!

You can follow me on Book Bub, a free service that helps you discover books you'll love through unbeatable deals, handpicked...

(a silly little list of good things) Our driveway, surprisingly, after so much snow. I guess the ground was warm enough to help melt it....

It's strange to think about writing full time, being a writer, like this is actually my career. For most of my life, writing got shoved...

In March, Americans’ attention turns toward the excitement of the NCAA basketball tournament and the joy of bracketology—aka guessing who...

Excited to attend Malice Domestic April 26-28 and connect with other mystery writers and fans! I'll be moderating a panel discussion on...

When I feel lost or overwhelmed, sometimes I sit still, refuse to move, and get really depressed. Sometimes I pour all my energy into...

I rarely feature household pets in our annual Christmas letter, but this year I mentioned Rose and Poppy. A week after mailing the...

I left you with an offer on the table for my books, but I forgot to mention how the actual writing of books was going. During the query...

By January, Small and Graff gave me some valuable feedback on my murder mystery and I rolled up my sleeves. Writing requires juggling a...

I've been cryptic about my writing on this site over the past year, partly because I've been in the dark myself, partly because I've been...

I love helping people with their writing and reading. Featured workshops include: Injecting Humor into Your Writing You wrote it. Now...

Much has been written and much more has been said about parenting styles and while my oldest would beg to differ at times (specifically...