There’s no law in the U.S. against making an ass of yourself. Yet. But there are always consequences (and please don’t take the noose image literally, okay?).  Gilbert Gottfried aka the voice of the AFLAC duck is the latest celebrity to go down because he crossed the invisible, ever-shifting boundaries of cultural sensibility on Twitter. …Read More

I miss living in Virginia the most in springtime. At dusk, I could look out into the woods and see  dogwood blossoms that seemed to float, untethered, among the trees. Some blossoms were delicate pink, and some were an ethereal, pure white. Spring is springing here in Southern Illinois. There’s a single dogwood tree out …Read More

The dogs and I have been walking in the hour before dusk each day. I used to call the stretch of land between the woods where we walk the deer pasture, or the upper pasture. We do have a lower pasture–and it is pasture enough. Flat, big enough for a horse or two. It was …Read More

This past fall, a contractor brought a front yard (read: our garden) drainage issue to our attention. In order to keep our bungalow from ruin, it seems we need to have the whole area dug up and reshaped. A local landscaper came by to confirm and said that the existing plants would all have to …Read More

I’m uncomfortable with the question, “Why do you write?” It’s one of those seemingly innocuous questions that often comes up in interviews between questions about my favorite music to write to, and do I write in longhand or on a computer. I’ve given various answers at different times because I’ve never thought that there was …Read More

(Pics are all from Louise Penny’s website.) If you know my writing, it might surprise you that I go in for–devour, even– picturesque mysteries. When people visit our house for the first time, they seem disappointed not to find pitchforks and pole arms on the walls, Bowie knives on the kitchen island, or a guillotine …Read More

I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. I love the idea of the contemporary zoological park–one that’s dedicated to preserving life from around the planet. The tiny Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke, VA, is one of my favorites. It specializes in both plentiful and endangered species from Asia, mostly. Many of the animals there live …Read More

If you let them, traditions can be like welcome sighs in the midst of chaos. This year, our daughter, Nora, didn’t get home for her college break until four days before Christmas. The house was already decorated, the gifts were wrapped, the cookies baked (mostly). For her whole life she’s been an integral part of …Read More

From Writing Book Reviews to Reading Reviews of My Book Hi, everyone, and thank you, Laura, for inviting me to your blog. First, I want to state right away that Laura and I write in entirely different genres. She (as I’m sure you know) writes creepy horror stories, and my story, THE SEVENFOLD SPELL, is …Read More

The link to this video has been passed to and fro among my writer/publisher/agent Twitter friends for the past few days. It totally cracked me up, but I wasn’t sure I would post it on the blog–at first. It’s very important to me that newbie writers feel supported in their efforts. Every writer starts somewhere, …Read More