I remember as a kid being bored once in a while. But mostly, I entertained myself. I remember waking up on weekend mornings. I knew it was too early to wake up because I didn’t hear my mom yet. So I would stay in bed and look at my walls …
Hearing about the terrific destruction of the recent hurricanes has made me think more carefully about my house. What I took for granted only a few weeks ago now seems palatial. I recently read a post by Nick Maley, the talent behind the “That Yoda Guy” exhibit in St. Maarten. …
One of the conflicts in my YA novel, The Girl Who Flew Away, involves heroin addiction. The protagonist has a family member who has been in and out of rehabilitation after battling an addiction that began in high school. I chose this conflict because I see addiction as a silent …
Welcome to the Spot Writers, bringing you your weekly dose of flash fiction. The prompt for this month: Check out these 10 fancy nature words. Choose one of the words, and make it either the title or theme of your post, and build your story around that. Today’s story comes …
This post comes a bit late, as for the real Mother’s Day I had to do a little sleuthing to make sure my mom had actually finished reading the book mentioned in the post. There is a portion of The Girl Who Flew Away that is undeniably influenced by my …
I’m excited about my new book, The Man with the Crystal Ankh. It’s the first in the Hollow Oak trilogy. When I sat down to think about what truly inspired my writing of this book, one of the answers surprised me. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with …
For this week’s Writer Wednesday feature, I’m honored to feature guest author Harriet Michael. A Christian writer, she has written a devotional and a book about prayer. I enjoy how her post today asks us to focus on the value of little things. Our lives are often so rushed that …
This week, I invited my writing colleague Cathy MacKenzie to write about the appeal of anthologies. One of my short stories was recently featured in an anthology she published, Out of the Cave. I enjoyed learning a bit of history about the book’s cover (of course, I enjoy all things …
This week, I had the opportunity to talk with Alana Woods, author of two contemporary Australian thrillers. Tell us about yourself: Career public servant in a past life. And a professional editor for much of it. After giving up full-time employment some years ago I took on contract editing, and …
As many of you may know, I went into labor during the recent crippling snowstorm and had to rely on emergency personnel to transport me to the hospital. Heroes like the responders who braved the storm never get enough thanks. It’s a theme I tried to emphasize in Corgi Capers: …