An hour of delightful conversation and good company in a historic building—what could be better? If you’re in the vicinity of Vallejo, California, on Dec. 22, join Filipino-American author Cindy Fazzi for a book event at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.

An article in the Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.) puts the spotlight on Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s little-known love affair in the 1930s with Isabel Rosario Cooper, a young Filipino actress. “Though Cooper’s existence is not a secret, it’s hardly front row center anywhere until ‘My MacArthur,’” according to the story, referring to the historical novel by Filipino-American author Cindy Fazzi.

Tory Hartmann, publisher of the Sand Hill Review Press, has acquired Cindy Fazzi’s literary debut, My MacArthur, a fictionalized account of General Douglas MacArthur’s tumultuous love affair with Isabel Rosario Cooper, a Filipino actress.

It has been four years since I launched this blog. I’ve decided to move to Squarespace.com for a much needed upgrade in design and functionality.

In “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald introduced us to the fictional places East Egg and West Egg, which refer to Long Island, New York. In Anne Tyler’s “Accidental Tourist,” we are told straightaway that the setting is Baltimore, the author’s beloved hometown. Is it better to invent a location or use a real place in your novel?

Why do men like boxing? I think it’s the same reason they used to gather behind the school at lunchtime when they were 10 years old. They wished they were the toughie giving the school bully a good whooping. They like watching a good fistfight. I understand that, but why do women love boxing?

You can make your novel come to life by engaging the reader using all five senses—sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste. You don’t have to be a foodie to indulge your reader’s sense of taste. I no longer remember much of “Chocolat” by Joanna Harris about a chocolate-shop owner in a small French village and “The Book of Salt” by Monique Truong about a Vietnamese cook, but I do remember their effective use of food. It’s a lesson I’ve kept in mind all these years.

The May 2015 edition of Romance Writers Report, the monthly magazine for members of the Romance Writers of America, published an article I wrote about how to choose the perfect title for your book. It described my experience choosing a title for my debut romance book, “In His Corner,” published by Lyrical Press (April 2015).

In novels like “High Fidelity” (Nick Hornby) and “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (Rachel Cohn and David Levithan), music is central to the story. But even if your novel doesn’t focus on music, you can use it to establish the mood of a scene or strengthen your depiction of a character.

People say writing a book is like having a baby. Since I’ve done both, I can tell you that the analogy is only partly true. Yes, there are similarities, but also major differences.