Old Dogs and New Tricks

Jeep, our border collie rescue, turned 14 last July and had a bit of a rough road after a severe adverse reaction to Gabapentin. His vet thought it would help for hip pain, and I didn’t research it before giving it to him. Note to self: never do that again. Turns out it’s a seizure…

Memorial Planting

Last year the planet lost a sweet little woman named Avis, who shared with me her love for flora. Over the years we had fun trading plants until she became too frail to garden anymore. Recently I got permission to dig up a rose from Avis’s now sad and unkempt yard to plant here in…

Easy-reader comic book! Goldilocks, revisited.

I decided to try writing and illustrating a graphic novel based on an early reader series I wrote called Sir Pants-a-Lot and Squire Mousekins. In the first adventure, the brave knight and his loyal squire rescue Goldilocks from the three bears. And, unlike the traditional story, they encourage the naughty girl to make amends for…

As you sew, so shall you rip: How I’m spending my Pandemic Staycation

Lately I’ve been bombarding Facebook with a new craft endeavor: patchwork. I’ve mistakenly been calling it quilting, which is the ultimate goal, maybe, but for now, I’ve been learning how to piece together different shapes of fabric bits. And I’ve been re-learning how to sew. So, a little sewing history: In my senior year of…

Farewell to my favorite hermit

“Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.” – Henry Scott Holland Jerry France had just turned 80 when he…

Writers are Liars

“Writers are liars, my dear, surely you know that by now? And yet, things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.” ― Neil Gaiman, Dream Country Like pretty much everyone reading this, I engage in social media….

Keeping it real

One of many things I have gleaned from successful writers is to make sure my fictional stories are believable. Experienced sci-fi and fantasy writers are adept at weaving a made-up world and filling it with characters and situations that a reader can believe and invest in. Legal thrillers play out according to real laws with…

Collage of Memories

My mom, aka Burl to her left coast kin, was an energetic and creative soul. Burl tried so many different crafts during her retirement years that I started calling her creations “Burl’s Limited Editions: sometimes limited to one.” Learning a new craft, enjoying the process, and then moving on to another new craft were what…

Celebrating the pre-birthday of Bug!

My new picture book, Bug, is now available for pre-sales! And it has already been getting some attention. Here’s what I can share so far: Author and blogger Dawn Prochovnic invited me to tell Bug’s Birth Story for her blog. I’m so grateful that Dawn takes the time and energy to promote her fellow authors…

Countdown to Bug’s Book Birthday!

My new picture book, Bug, won’t be released until April 2, 2019, but Jeep got his author’s copy yesterday! He gave it two paws up. Meanwhile, I’m working on a book trailer for it, and will announce that and more about how Bug came to be when we get closer to the publication date. Here’s…