In case this is news, we had a power outage in San Francisco today. The first I heard of it was a phone call to my office on the south side of Market Street. I heard the police and news helicopters most of the morning but that is not unusual in this city. Our building […]
Suppose You Give a Party…
Many of us experience trepidations when we offer something of ourselves to others. The classic and often humorous question, “Suppose I give a Party and nobody comes?” is all the more poignant for actors, dancers, artists and writers who are always at the mercy of “invited” guests when they exhibit, perform or publish a work […]
My American Childhood
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Civility in the Age of Rage
When I first started writing This Can’t Be Love, my focus was exclusively on the relationship between Mike Argent and Jakki Hunter. Once the antagonist, Gavin Andrews, hit the stage, one of the ideas driving my characterization of the ‘bad guy’ was his arrogance and his presumption that he could do whatever he liked, with impunity, because […]
What’s Law Got to Do with It?
We have a love/hate relationship with the law. We must have rules to build a society. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives us the story of lost boys forming their own laws in an imperfect society to control their fear and desperation, a social order based on the example set by their experience of […]
The Tyranny of Popularity
From the time we begin the socialization process of leaving the cosseted safety of our family home (sometimes as early as a few weeks old), we are encouraged – even coerced – into wanting to be popular. Popular means that we fit in, follow the crowd, don’t stand out; stay in line, do as you […]