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A Girl and Her Dog
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 found, she was in pretty bad shape. After a few baths, a surgery for a cherry eye, and a lot of TLC, she came home to live with us. That was 2006. From that day on, she was a constant companion. Going on walks with the family, running alongside bicycle rides, playing in the backyard,…
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Notes From An Evening With Neil Gaiman
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 pen and paper, and I didn’t want to disrupt others around me by using my phone, what I am sharing here is what I took away from his talk, from my memory and not verbatim. As we first entered the lobby there were tables set up with index cards and boxes. We were prompted to…
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Sometimes Life Happens
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 what story they are living and want me to share.
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Notes From A Writer’s Conference
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 so many amazing people the nerves were quickly quieted and I knew I was in the right place. Well at least they were until the pitch block session, but more on that later. For those that are new to my journey as a writer or even this site, a quick catch-up for you. I am…
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A Sneak Peek
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 you a peek at what the story looks like in my mind. These are all images I found while searching (i.e. procrastinating) for story and character inspiration. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s set in 1920’s New Orleans. Raymond is a serial killer, obsessed with two things; music and Simone. The rest I…
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Done!
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 Between The Beats looks like. The little bumps at the bottom are paperclips marking spots that I need to come back to in the next round of rewrites. But for now, this is what has been sent off to the developmental editor for her to review and notes to show me what else needs to…
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A Letter To My Daughter’s Mother
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 don’t know if you wanted her and couldn’t keep her, or if you just couldn’t handle the prospect of being a mother at that time. I do know the policy of your country made boys more favored than girls. Maybe this is what influenced your decision. But whatever the reason, the question of why…
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Celebrating Independent Authors
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, memoir, romance, steampunk and more. They were each given two minutes to get up and tell us a little about themselves, what their books were about, and anything else we should know. Afterward, there was a time for meeting each one, having books signed, and photo opportunities if you were so inclined. One of the…
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Rediscovering Dreams
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 the story, that if I were to leave right then, the world in which I had been living would no longer exist. I wanted to stay there in that land of imagination that the author had created just for me. It was a magical place, full of adventures, challenges to be overcome, and in the end,…
