November 23, 2018 Today there is a dog hole-shaped hole in our lives. Today we lost Lily, a member of our family. Maybe lost is the wrong word, since we were all together at the end. Lily was a side-of-the-road rescue. We don’t know if she was abandoned, or ran away, but when she was …
Okay, if you ever have the chance to see and hear Neil Gaiman in person, I highly recommend it. I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to his sold-out show at Benaroya Hall here in Seattle and it was so worth it. While the auditorium was too dark for me to take notes with …
Sometimes life happens and gets in the way of writing. Yet in all the chaos, I came to realize that the characters I have started to get to know in my newest work, are telling a different story than what I was trying to write. So I will take this unintended break to figure out …
Wow, what an incredible three and half days I had at the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association conference, also known as the PNWA conference. Since this was my first ever writer’s conference, the nerves and the imposter syndrome were strong when I first arrived. But I am here to say after a few minutes surrounded by …
As I write this post, my latest draft of Between The Beats is in the hands of my wonderful, amazing, developmental editor. This is her second round of reading and editing and I am anxiously awaiting her notes. I thought that while I wait for her to finish that it would be fun to share with …
At least with this latest round of edits and rewrites. My eyes are crossed and my brain is a jumble of words, images, and emotions. I’m afraid if I write one more word it will destroy the remaining 80,000+ words and that would be crushing, to say the least. This is what a draft of …
You don’t know me, but because of you, I am a mom. Because you made the choice to leave her, your newborn baby, where someone was sure to find her, she has had a love filled life. I can’t begin to know or imagine the thoughts and hardships you faced when you made this decision. …
I recently had the opportunity to attend an Indie Authors Night at a local bookstore and I have to say, it was fantastic. There was a panel of 20 authors ranging in age from 10 to well, I don’t know exactly, but that doesn’t matter. The books they published spanned everything from kid-lit, science fiction, …
When I was little, okay, even now that I’m older, you could find me with my nose buried in a book. Friends would come over and ask if I wanted to come out to play and usually, I would. But there were those times when I didn’t. I couldn’t, because I was so engrossed in …
Naming characters. It’s something that all writers struggle with. Well, at least writers I’ve talked to. Yes, there are times the name comes right away or you come up with a fully developed character before your fingers hit the keys and it fits perfectly. But then there are those times you start out with one …