We humans have curious minds and I use the word in two senses: 1) as minds that take an interest in the world around them, and 2) as minds being strange in themselves.  Hamlet observed, “What a piece of work is man,” (Hamlet II, ii) and  I couldn’t say it better.  The entire

“If you do not have a happy-for-now or happily-ever-after ending, you aren’t writing romance. You will let your readers down.” Lynn Lorenz, a romance writer gave that advice to novices at a conference held in Las Vegas last August. While literary authors like Phillip Roth or Mar

Edith Wharton once said, “What’s the use of making mysteries?  It only makes people want to nose ‘em out.”  Well, how right she is.  I’ve encountered two mysteries within the past few days that leave me scratching my head.  As the experiences may be of use to my fellow w

“What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.” So wrote William Dean Howell, author and literary critic, to the great American writer Edith Wharton, (“Root and Branch” by Gary Greenberg, Harpers, June 2013, pg86) I had to smile when I read those word

I’m not the first to wonder if our quest for knowledge is getting us anywhere. For centuries, as a specie, we’ve scrambled around the universe trying to get to know it and, as a consequence, discover ourselves. The result of our accumulated knowledge has been to raise more questio

The more science learns about human beings, the more puzzling we seem to be. For years, the assumption has been that the ability to postpone gratification was a better predictor of future success than IQ. (“Headlines,” by Simon Makin, Scientific Mind, March/April 2012, pg. 8) The

A local newspaper recently wrote the following about my new novel, Trompe l’Oeil: Suspense builds as the reader tries to decipher what is real and what is illusion. Ms. Miller’s knowledge of literature and poetry is cleverly interjected into the story giving the book traces of mor

On his show recently, Bill Moyer asked an author why he chose to write fiction instead of non-fiction. The author replied he felt he could uncover truth better with fiction. Of course, I agree and have written on this subject before. When a writer is looking for truth in the everyday

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, my publisher and I recently talked for over an hour about whether I should make some last minute changes in my upcoming novel, Trompe l’Oeil. She was concerned about the book’s complexity and whether or not I should give the reader more clues.

Recently, my publisher and I had a discussion about Rachel Farraday, the heroine of my upcoming novel, Trompe l’Oeil. She wondered if my character needed to be more assertive to satisfy the modern view of women. Where, she wondered, was the grittiness of Victorine Ellsworth, the sch