It is summertime, and it is hot and nobody feels like doing anything. So, in my book (hahahaha) that means it is time for a lot of reading. Hot summer afternoons are made for lying on a hammock, or in air-conditioned comfort, giving yourself over to a book. Who has time for such things? You […]
If you want to be a writer, or consider yourself a writer, or are planning to be a writer, do not let me catch saying you don’t have time to read. Ahem. Because, really? You have no business writing if you’re not reading. Everything. All the time. Books and blogs and magazines and the backs […]
What I’m writing: Draft Two of my first romance novel. I am living proof that you can write a Really Shitty First Draft and make it into something. With previous novels, I’ve known more about the plot and characters and thus had a more polished first draft (still crappy, though). There are many places in […]
What I’m Reading: The Mapping of Love and Death, one of many novels in the Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series by Jacqueline Winspear. I love this book. It’s my kind of mystery–one where the sleuth’s story is almost as important as the mystery she is solving. I’m planning to go back and start at the […]
I know, I know, you get back what you put out so I shouldn’t be calling February gloomy. But for cripes sakes, it kind of is. I mean, we’ve got the Donald, and here in Portland we’ve had so many ice and snowstorms I’ve lost count (give me plain old Oregon rain any day), and […]
I’m cautiously dipping my toe back in to bring you these Friday compendiums. I started these last year and liked doing them a lot, but then I wandered away. As I do. Probably because blogging has felt wonky and unpredictable to me over the last couple of years. But, like so many others, I am feeling […]
After three weeks in France, I’m home again. Even though the Google and my phone still feed me the occasional search result or ad in French, it is nice to be able to understand the language people are speaking around me. (It’s always a shock to land back in a U.S. airport on the journey […]
Well, howdy. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Five on Friday, mainly because I’ve been busy doing stuff but no particular things stand out, if you know what I mean. But since I know you’re just dying for an update (ha, like you don’t have five million things going on yourself), here goes: What […]
I have a veritable cornucopia of links for you today, so let’s dive right in. Here goes: Writing Finish that novel already! (I know, it’s not that easy.) Writing historical fiction For the love of it Write great YA fiction How to become a ghostwriter Writing setting (a topic dear to my heart since I […]
Good morning. It has been another week of lovely weather, though the record-breaking high eighties we had at the start of it were a bit too much for me. Here’s what’s been going on: The best thing that happened: Making a lion cake to celebrate my three-year-old granddaughter’s birthday. Her four-year-old cousin came to help, […]
