A FORTUITOUS INTERMESHING OF EVENTS by Deborah Elliott-Upton My family and friends have been telling me I need to learn to say no more often. I am overextended, but who isn’t? I do have a tough schedule that has gotten tighter every year for the past decade. “Whose fault is that?” my daughter asks. (She’s […]

THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING by Deborah Elliott-Upton Creating the beginning of a new story is easy for me. The ending usually is too. It’s the nether regions of the middle that seem to play havoc with a writer. I remember taking a screenplay workshop from a woman who worked on a semi-famous movie that starred […]

AMERICAN IDOLS by Deborah Elliott-Upton Contest Judges James Baldwin, Jane Austen, and William Shakespeare Currently one of the highest rankings on television’s Nielsen charts is American Idol – and remember, they’re doing that twice a week, season after season, with no sign of let-up. News of those voted off by American viewers are as eagerly […]

FINDING TIME TO READ by Deborah Elliott-Upton If you don’t have a young reader in your home, you may not be aware that April 12th is Beverly Cleary’s birthday. The author of the Ramona Quimby series is celebrated each year as National D.E.A.R. Day. D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. Many elementary school students […]

WALKING THE WALK by Deborah Elliott-Upton If you ever want to see a writer who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk, make sure you meet Deborah LeBlanc. A few years ago, I ran into her at a writer’s conference. She laughingly referred to me as the Energizer bunny that weekend, but that […]

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST by Deborah Elliott-Upton We at the Criminal Brief headquarters are pleased to announce the publication of a first edition of what we hope will be an annual event. Utopia Publications has agreed to publish a collection of short stories written by the Criminal Brief staff and we couldn’t be more […]

PARTNERS IN CRIME by Deborah Elliott-Upton Some of my favorite partners in crime are Ellery and his dad, Sherlock and his doctor friend, and that old married couple, Nick and Nora, but I’m currently reading Partners in Crime, an anthology edited by my friend, Elaine Raco Chase. I first met Elaine when she was beginning […]