Okay--I thought I was putting up new blog posts, but instead I was putting up comments to my initial blog post. So...I'll try again. Tech-morons R Us!:

Blog post #2:

One big difference between writing romances and writing mysteries is that with romances, you know what your basic plot will be, right from the start: a hero, a heroine, conflict, resolution, true love, happy ending. With a mystery, there isn't just a hero and a heroine. There's a hero OR a heroine (your detective; in my case, it's a heroine) and a whole lot of other characters who may be good or evil or a mix of both. Writing a romance is like juggling two balls. Writing a mystery is like juggling twenty.