Back in January, in my first post of the year, I promised to take you behind the scenes of my forthcoming novel “Steel Fear” over the next few months. That series of posts starts right here, right now.

They say one picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes a few well-chosen words can be worth ten thousand pictures.

I wrote my latest book just for you—but I’m not going to tell you where you can buy it. Because you can’t. It’s not for sale. Instead, I’m giving it you. Here.

Of the hundreds of excellent writing resources that can help rock your writing, here are the books and organizations I’d most recommend.

Have you ever had a moment when you closed the cover on a book you just read, set it down, and thought, “My life will never be the same”? Here are ten books that have had exactly that effect on me.

Sometimes what you think is your best idea is actually getting in the way. It may be good, even excellent. But the writing has to serve the story—never the other way around.

“A deserted city street. The distant ruckus of drunken revelers, laughter, Christmas carol fragments. Under the faint glow of street lights a flurry of snowflakes drifts to the frigid cobblestone surface, then swirls aside as a girl’s bare feet sprint past…” These are the opening words of my next novel. We have the first 12 pages and a plot. What we don’t have is a title. Any suggestions?

One year ago, all we had was a manuscript. A title followed by 100,000 words. Now we’re publishing our first novel, with this quote from Lee Child (of Jack Reacher fame) on the front cover: “An instant classic—maybe an instant legend.” Which goes to show: When you have someone who believes in you wholeheartedly and without reservation, there is no mountain you can’t climb.

It was two years ago today, on a cold Tuesday morning, when I set foot on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, a warship roughly the size of the Empire State Building lying on its side that carries some six thousand men and women. What if one of them was a serial killer? That’s what I was there to find out.

How do you get five U.S. presidents to do you a personal favor? You ask.