My hometown is a village located in the southwest corner of Maine. For the first five years of my life, I spent my days wandering the woods and groves of lilac bushes around my house or with the kids down the road, an older girl and her younger brothers. During the summer before I turned six, my […]
Elementary, My Dear Writer
The Very, Very Basics of Writing Anything There are three fundamental elements of every piece of written work—including film, non-fiction and grocery lists. These three elements must be present or there is no point in proceeding. In non-fiction, the three elements forming the basics of a book are: Idea – the Topic Reason – Information […]
Disappointments Come in Small Doses
Disappointments come at every juncture of our lives. As children we face rejection as players on teams, aren’t invited to a classmate’s birthday party, fail a test or don’t get the grade we wanted on a paper. These are all learning experiences and prepare us for the inevitable rough treatment we will face in the […]
Suppose You Write a Book… — Repost
I wrote this post in April 2014, on my usual 4th Tuesday of the month, for Classic and Cozy Books on Blogspot. …And what? Why do we tell stories? For me, this activity became a lifelong occupation from the age of three. One night, I woke from a nightmare that, to this day, fills me […]
Kindness Matters
My mother seemed always to have an answer for every state of the human condition. A turn of phrase, an adage, an idiom, a quotation that addressed a predicament in which I or my siblings found ourselves. One of these is well-known and the photo here begins as my mother would have, but goes on […]
Writing About Writing is More Fun Than…
Writing! And as soon as I had thought of the title for this blog, I recalled an encounter that made a mark and was instrumental in guiding me forward. Years ago, I attended a literary event and had a conversation with an escapee from a New England family. I believed, being also from New England, […]
eBook Sale Ending at Midnight ET
A short reminder that tonight is the last opportunity to buy my ebook titles at the 65% discount rate offered through the month of March. The sale will end tonight at midnight, Eastern Time. The sale includes: Also, my publisher, Amazon is offering my debut novel, Wait a Lonely Lifetime at a discount. […]
Ebook Sale Starts March 4!
Montlake Publishing (my publisher for my debut novel) will, on Amazon, be offering Wait a Lonely Lifetime at 1/3 the usual price (99¢) from Friday, March 4th through Monday, April 4th. In the spirit of this Spring Sale from Montlake Publishing, I will be offering the same amazing deal for ALL my books currently listed on Amazon, Kobo, […]
Dancing into a Story — Repost
This was my second post for Classic and Cozy Books, March 25, 2014, posted shortly after I published Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls, one of my favorite novels. If we don’t like our own work, why are we writing? Have you ever found yourself writing, without premeditation, about someone from your distant past, even your childhood, whom you have […]
Classic, Cozy & Cunning – Repost
That was first published in ClassicandCozyBooks.blogspot.com – the group blog I’ve participated in since February 2014 – two years ago from this coming Wednesday! We’ve all read books set in different countries, regions, time periods with characters from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The attempt to capture the sound of speech and cultural nuances is […]