According to my handy schedule, I planned to put up a post about what books I’m reading right now. Frankenstein is in the hopper, as it were. But it can wait a day or two. I had one of those days today. Yesterday went well, and I got lots of fiction writing done. No exercise to …Read More

    Happy Sunday from good dog Scout, who hopes you can find half the happiness he feels when he has his favorite stick (hint: every stick is his favorite stick).       “A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.” — Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton     January 14th Words …Read More

          Happy Saturday! This is my second Saturday putting up a post, so it means I’ve posted every day for over a week. I didn’t start out last week to blog every day, but I’m really enjoying giving it a shot. I didn’t quite meet my goal of working on the …Read More

      I like to think of Friday the 13th as a little Halloween. And I love that it happens this time in the middle of winter. Winter is a great time for spooky stories. Years ago, I wrote and recorded a spooky flash story about one of my biggest fears for Weekend America. …Read More

A perfect day of reading, writing, relaxing, and taking photos. Also, a couple loads of laundry for balance. (There may have been a nap involved, as well.) I’m solidly into the final third of the novel, and eager to finish in the next 2-3 weeks. I need a lot more days like today. Tomorrow we …Read More

  I always thought J.D. Salinger was kind of a jerk. Salinger ostensibly wasn’t interested in the fame that came with writing one of the 20th century’s bestselling novels. Living as a recluse for most of his life, he shunned being viewed by or interacting with the general public. Though I gather he enjoyed the …Read More

Today was a tough writing day in that it almost didn’t happen. I’ve gotten back into that same old loop of going to bed way, way too late. Usually I’m up writing or blogging or messing around with Canva.com (link below) or paying bills. I look at the clock at 10:30, and think that surely I …Read More

In the next few weeks I’ll be making some changes to my website. There aren’t any hard and fast rules about how often a website should be changed and updated, but it’s often glaringly obvious when one needs help. I’ve had three websites in the past nine years, each with a major design change. This …Read More

When I’m writing and get stuck, I will often get up and putter about the house or go online or get a snack (numbers 2 and 3 are never good choices). I’m trying to get in the habit of going outside and walking a bit. It was gray all day today, so I wasn’t excited about …Read More

I will miss 2016. I will miss my son being 16/17, and my daughter not yet being 25. Every age my children have passed through has been my favorite. In 2016, my sixth novel was published. I worked on some special projects with remarkable writers. I saw New Orleans for the very first time. The …Read More