I hope this missive finds you healthy and happy in the holiday season. Celebrating the different feast days of Christmas has led to a deeper, more personal time of rejoicing for my family. However, sadness and stress has marked our Christmas season, too. Our beloved cat, Lady Guinevere, is struggling through kidney failure and probably … Continue reading Crash-landing into Christmas
When I happened to notice a picture of the writing office of my friend and fellow speculative fiction writer, James L Rubart, in NW Jobs by the Seattle Times, I wondered how any other office could equal the sheer brilliance of my friend’s secret hideaway. But then one thing led to another and I created my … Continue reading The Seattle Times Features My Closet Office
It’s not uncommon for a writer to be proficient in English but challenged when it comes to numbers. I say this in my defense because I’m still living down some stories. The most famous one happened when a writing retreat group member volunteered to pick me up on the way to our San Juan Island retreat. … Continue reading One Writer’s Trouble with Numbers (or How God Knew Which Husband to Give Me)
It’s amazing how time at home can improve my mindset. That, and reaching the end of a difficult period of transition has me focused and happy. I’ve had to let go of a dream of publication in the western historical market, at least for the time being, but that sacrifice has opened the door to … Continue reading Gearing Up
Ever felt stretched just a tad too far? That’s how I’m feeling lately. There’s always a trade-off in energy lost when you travel and disruption on both sides of a trip. October was a phenomenal month for which I am very grateful. I’m a good kind of tired, but I’m still tired. As you may recall, … Continue reading Stretching As a Writer
Autumn’s shortening days, falling leaves, and first breath of cold whisper of mystery. A sense of timelessness lingers in every moment as nature lies down to sleep. Secrets dwell in shadow, ripe for the telling. Here, then, is a riddle: how can life arise from death? An impossible task, and yet each spring proves it. This … Continue reading Letting Go of a Dream
This month I had something of an identity crisis that’s actually helping me refine my goals. My agent has shopped around my proposal for a western romance series for a while now. We’ve received interest but no cigar. At this point we’re evaluating which direction to take my traditional writing career. I would like to … Continue reading My Epiphany Moment
DawnSinger Finaled in WalMart’s Get-on-the-Shelf Contest! A surprise awaited me upon my return home from the retreat. My husband had entered the book trailer for DawnSinger, Tales of Faeraven 1, in WalMart’s Get On The Shelf Contest for a chance to sell my book in WalMart stores, and it finaled! What you can do to … Continue reading Books and a Book Festival
Ever wonder what it’s like to live as one to the manor born? Well, I have. When a wealthy couple offered use of their second home (worth millions) to my writing retreat group for a week, I expected my curiosity to be satisfied but had no idea how the experience would change me. I arrived … Continue reading The Week I Lived in a Mansion
