We’ve all heard the phrase, “Life isn’t all black and white.” The implication of this phrase is that there are certain situations in life that are nuanced, that there isn’t just one way of looking at them. The same should be true of the characters we create. Our characters should not be simplistic or their …
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Renewal
This picture brings to mind the word renewal. After the barrenness of winter, spring has come. And with it – renewal. Seasons of barrenness often occur in the life of a writer as well. Seasons when we struggle to find the right words. Seasons when there are no words at all. For myself, there was …
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond
My children were avid fans of the Land Before Time series when they were younger. As I’m four chapters into writing a sci-fi murder mystery, a line from one of the songs in the series keeps echoing through my mind: Beyond the mysterious beyond. After a writer pens the first sentence of a novel-in-progress, they …
Local Author Fair!
It’s almost time for the North Canton Public Library’s Local Author Fair! If you’re in the area on September 25th, stop at Price Park in North Canton, Ohio, anytime between 11:00-2:00 to check out the many local authors who will have books available from every genre under the sun! I will have historical fiction, tween …
A Just Measure Official Release
It’s 1892 in Lancashire, England and William Somerset, the 6th Earl of Devonton, and his sister, Lady Angelica, are about to receive important guests at their ancestral home, Chalkley House. For some unexplainable reason, a sense of foreboding falls over Lady Angelica from the moment their guests arrive. When murder eventually invades Chalkley House, Lady …
A Just Measure
Within the next week or two, I’ll be releasing my newest novel – a Victorian-era murder mystery set in Lancashire, England. My oldest son is the one who encouraged me to write it. For the longest time, he’s been telling me I should write a mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers & …
Stop!
Knowing when to stop is a gift. When to stop eating. When to stop spending. Knowing when to stop saying yes…or no. When to stop participating in an unhealthy situation. When to stop closing ourselves off to love. There is wisdom to stopping in so many situations. The same wisdom about stopping applies to our …
A Nose Apart
My new middle-grade children’s book, A Nose Apart, is now available on Amazon! The main character of this story is a tiny and mischievous creature named Boba. Boba loves to eavesdrop on the humans who walk the trails of the nature preserve where she lives, but she ends up getting herself into a world of …
Stimulus
We just exited 2020, so you may have wondered if I was writing about cash from the government when you saw the title of this post. 🙂 But I’m thinking about a different kind of stimulus – I’m thinking about the things that supply stimulus to our imaginations. Like this image my husband recently captured …
The Ever-Watching Eyes
I seem to have a theme going with using my husband’s nature pictures with my posts. 🙂 For good reason, I think…he’s an amazing photographer! He captured this image of a Praying Mantis at a beautiful state park near our home. The way it’s looking at the camera seems almost fierce. As if it’s gazing …