Veronica Cline Barton's Blog: Mistletoe and Mayhem: Yuletide at Castlewood Manor listed as, "One of the best suspense books of all time." - BookAuthority, page 7

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Book Club Reads; How Would Your Book(s) Stack Up?

"Books are something social - a writer speaking to a reader - so I think making the reading of a book the center of a social event, the meeting of a book club, is a brilliant idea."

Yann Martel

It's always been on my writer wish list to have one of my books selected as a book club read. Recently, I've been looking at some of the suggested book club, topic questions I've found from searches on the web.

The thought of a group of complete strangers reading a book of mine and dissecting the good,...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: A #Spooktober Chat with a Master of Horror, Author Ken Stark!

Multi-award-winning #horror writer, questionable painter, unapologetic nerd, and committed beer enthusiast.

Ken Stark

One of the absolute delights of our Alaska cruise holiday last month was spending the end of the trip in the stunning city of Vancouver, B.C. for a few days. It was an extra special stop for me, for I had the pleasure to meet one of my long time Twitter, writer friends in person, Ken Stark aka @PennilessScribe!

I was so excited to chat with Ken. It's one thing to tweet and DM bu...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: It's Fall Y'all; Time to Eat, Drink, and Be Scary!

“I long for the days

Of pumpkins and ghosts;

When the dead use homes

And people as hosts.”

― E. Reyes

Pumpkin spice and everything nice, well, hello, October! It's the official start of scary season and I for one, can't wait to get my #BOO on! This month brings about all the things I love--scary movies, mysterious tales, bootiful decor, and spookilicious recipes! Did I mention it's boot season too?!

MOVIES: I don't know about you, but I love watching the black and white classics for the seas...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Royal Edition "Mrs. Singh Shuts the Shop' by Sheila Patel #QueenElizabeth2

Today's post is a special, royal edition in honor of the late, Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II. The regal, mourning period has come to pass, and the historic monarch is now laid to rest with her beloved prince. During the past few weeks in the midst of tears and memories, we were treated to rainbows, pet corgis, and her pony, Emma, saying their final, royal farewell.

One of my fav, writer friends from the UK, Sheila Patel (@VodkaWardrobe on Twitter), author of The Magic Vodka Wardrobe ser...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Scenic Waterways, Icy Bergs, Wicked Mists, and Rowdy Good Fun! #Alaska

"More than anything there is the sense of scale: you can fly for hours and hours of Alaska and you look down and all you'll see is forests, lakes and snow-capped mountains, with no sign whatsoever of human beings."

Steve Backshall

I truly appreciate Steve Backshall's quote above. The scale of Alaska is off the charts--I mean I knew it was our largest state geographically but being here in person has been eye opening. Looking over at the GIF where the map of Alaska is superimposed on the lower...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: State 49, Alaska!

"By acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid."

— ,Theodore Roosevelt

Grrrrreetings from State 49! This past week the OH and I began our much-anticipated, northern journey along the coast of Alaska. We stayed in Anchorage for a few days before setting sail on the Viking Ocean Cruise ship, the Orion, on Saturday.

This is such an amazing part of the country--spectacular scenery, colorful carvings, friendly folk (love their pioneering spirit and humorous takes on life), tremb...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Wicked Mist Is Here!

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes..."

William Shakespeare

Well, hello September and with it, a big #WOOHOO for the arrival of book 3 in The Haunted Series, Wicked Mist! Bibiana Krall and I co-authored another collection of haunting tales to entertain our readers for this coming season of scary. I am super excited for this latest collaboration--you're going to read five unique tales with a spooky twist, and one that... well let's just say itsh a bitsh outsh theresh.....

Veronica's #WritersDairy: Ode to the Summer of '22

“August has passed, and yet summer continues by force to grow. They sprout secretly between the chapters of the year, covertly included between its pages.”

- Jonathan Safran Foer

Here we are--the last day of August! Now, I know we have a few more days (okay, maybe lots) of sweltering heat and blinding sunshine left, but there's something about entering September that brings me a breezy, mental boost. The promise of cool, crisp days, pumpkin spice everything, and let's not forget, the start of t...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Upstairs/Downstairs; Positioning the Class Divide in a Storyline

“I think accepting change is quite as important as defending the past.”

— Cora, Lady Grantham, Downton Abbey, Season 3

In today's post I want to chat about the cross-genre topic of incorporating and positioning the class divide in a story. I'll be focusing the discussion on what happens when servants are included in the storyline with the high society crowd. Their interactions did happen IRL, despite the separate entrances and staircases. Let's think about it, if a person was in close proximity ...

Veronica's #WritersDiary: Today's #Mystery Topic: #Motives for Mur-dah Most Foul!

“Motives for murder are sometimes very trivial, Madame.”

“What are the most usual motives, Monsieur Poirot?”

“Most frequent—money. That is to say, gain in its various ramifications. Then there is revenge—and love, and fear, and pure hate, and beneficence—”

“Monsieur Poirot!”

“Oh, yes, Madame."

Dame Agatha Christie

For the March mystery topic post, I'm discussing motives for mur-dah most foul. What compels a person to become so incensed to commit the most heinous of crimes? For this discussio...