Today I had the chance to chat with fellow Barking Rain Press author Jennifer Leeper. Jennifer is the author of Padre: The Narrowing Path (description at bottom of post), a book I very much enjoyed. Check out Jennifer’s advice on finding inspiration for writing. Then, click the link for a …
Teaching English literature, I often encounter the theme of life versus art. Does art mirror life? Does life mirror art? I awoke to a shock this week—like millions of others—to learn that David Bowie had passed away after an 18-month-long battle with cancer. As he kept his life relatively private, …
Happy New Year! I’ve had several discussions with people who dislike holidays that celebrate or designate the passage of time—New Years, birthdays, even Labor Day denoting the end of summer. At times, I even agree. But as my dad always asks, would you rather the alternative? So on New Year’s …
I’m one of those people—you know the ones. I never complain about heat waves. I dread snow and cold. Putting on pants and socks makes me feel like I’m being mummified. I would love to retire somewhere tropical and warm. But for today’s Fantastic Friday post, I wanted to highlight …
There are some people in life who always seem to look on the bright side of any situation. My father-in-law, Allen, was one of them. No matter what was happening, he was always the one making a joke or finding the humor in a situation. He rarely (ever?) let things …
Battle of the Books This year, I was honored that Loudoun County Public Schools chose my novel The Scarred Letter as one of its ten Battle of the Books selections. Battle of the Books is a competition in which students at all high schools across the county compete by reading …
For today’s “Writer Wednesday” feature, I wanted to highlight an anthology I edited called Forging Freedom: Dimensions. Dimensions was published by Freedom Forge Press, a company dedicated to celebrating stories of freedom (of all types). When the company put out a call for submissions for its general fiction anthology, an …
I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about Elf On The Shelf again—that mischievous “game” in which parents torment their kids with “deeds” the demented-looking elf commits while the kids are sleeping. Though Elf On The Shelf wasn’t a thing when I was a kid, my dad did plenty to …
As I’ve done in Novembers of the past, I wanted to highlight thirty reasons I am thankful. It’s so easy to go through each day dwelling on the negative; in fact, it seems negativity spreads much more quickly than positivity. But if we each take just a moment to thank …
I feel blessed to be releasing two new corgi books so close to my birthday. They’re being released by different publishers, but their release dates happened to coincide! To celebrate their release (and my birthday), I’m giving away a copy of Corgi Capers: Curtain Calls and Fire Halls to one …