One recent Monday–Garbage Night to be exact–my husband, Pinckney, heard mewing near our front gate. We were immediately concerned because our daughter mentioned she’d seen a dead cat out on the road earlier in the day. The mewing gave us visions of some pitiful, half-alive creature abandoned and dying on the asphalt. Usually we only find beer …Read More

      The thing about writing stories and publishing is that they’re both very much like that old Lay’s potato chip slogan: You can’t eat just one. (No, please don’t eat books–no matter how much you love them.) So many people I’ve met who say they want to write, or want to be a writer, claim …Read More

There’s this thing that I do, and I’m wondering if you do it too. A little story: (You knew there was a story coming, I bet.) I was sitting on the couch watching television with my Sweet Husband, and I started thinking about cookies. Not just any cookies, but specifically the two dozen homemade chocolate …Read More

  BLISS HOUSE is number four. I never imagined I would have four novels out in the world, all available in one form or another. In fact, for at least half of my life I never thought seriously of being a writer at all. But then I suddenly, irrevocably, absolutely knew that it was what I …Read More

  This is my childhood piano: A Baldwin spinet that was already seven or eight years old when my parents bought it. I was about nine when it came to live at our house, so we’re roughly the same age. It was long both the instrument of my torture and my delight. Maybe I’ve written …Read More

I’m so glad nature knows what it’s doing. Here we are at the end of March, and spring, whether winter likes it or not, is finally here. Not so as you could tell by the thermometer, but the signs are all around. The branches of my rose bushes are tipped in red, the iris and …Read More

Growth is messy. I uploaded this photo of our ravine without taking a really good look at it. I was fixated on the late afternoon sun peeking over the hill and treetops, and thinking “light! life!” *cue angelic chorus* But seeing the whole image, I’m reminded that there’s much more going on here. Buttressing the …Read More

If I don’t do it, who will? If you’re walking down an empty street far away from the nearest fire station, and come upon a burning house, you’re going to have to ask yourself this question if you suspect someone inside needs rescuing. The question is also going to come up if you’re the only …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