February–This is the hot mess that is my beloved butterfly bush. God, I want to get my pruning shears onto the thing. And not just the pruning shears, but the limb lopper, as well. Okay, maybe not the limb lopper, which extends to seven feet long and is generally reserved for trees–but definitely one of …Read More

Oh, good! I’ve been tagged. Welcome to the latest stop on The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. This particular blog tour invites writers to answer ten questions about their current Work in Progress, or forthcoming project. Each tagged writer answers the questions, then tags five or more writers to answer the questions on their blog, …Read More

Since I didn’t make it to church this week, I’m going to use today’s blog as a confessional vehicle, okay? It’s about…romance. I know. I’m aghast, too. Friday night I fell asleep watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on my iPad. The falling asleep part had more to do with my tiredness than the film. …Read More

My son (not the one pictured above) started listening to Christmas carols back in September. That is not a typo. Yes. September. We told him that those songs were NOT ALLOWED until after Halloween, and then they could only be listened to in his room up until Thanksgiving. But thirteen year-old boys are notoriously unreliable …Read More

I am SUCH a procrastinator. This is not a surprise to anyone who knows me well. I get a big rush from plowing all my energy into things at the last minute. It’s intoxicating. I think I’m probably an amateur adrenalin junkie. You won’t find me on thrill rides at amusement parks, or jumping out …Read More

Me, as a zebra, 2009. I’ve never been a big one for costumes. As a writer, I tend to keep my fantasy in my head and on the page. Okay. That’s a lie. I costume myself every day. There’s the Laura, Field Trip Mom Turtleneck. The I Feel Icky Because I Ate too Much Cake …Read More

Forgive my melodrama, but am I the only one who felt like the summer of 2012 would never end? I’ve done a lot of driving over the last week and, here in the Midwest, it has just started to look like fall has arrived. The first week of October is over, and the leaves are …Read More

You know how I hate to send you away from here, but I’ve been busy at a couple of other places around town. The good news is that you can win goodies. Books, specifically. My books, very specifically! The Horror Writers Association is doing an entire month of Halloween blogs. Halloween Haunts kicked off on …Read More

Is there anything more depressing than talking about The Apocalypse? Talk about the Apocalypse is inescapable online and on our car radios and televisions. But what do people mean when they say the word Apocalypse? Biblical Apocalypse. This one is easy. It’s about the Anti-Christ showing up to cause all sorts of grisly trouble before …Read More

Being a kid who was attracted to the unusual, the disturbing, the alien, and otherness, I always wanted to visit a sideshow, but I was discouraged from it by my folks and, later, friends. Mostly on the grounds that it was a rip-off. But, finally, at my advanced age of *ahem*, I decided that I …Read More