Blog

September

Tuesday 1st September 2020

There was no August blog--I was deep in the process of editing Stealing Thunder, now available through Amazon. And now it's September. Ahh September. I’ve written about this before—how the first of September is my NEW YEAR. In the past, it might have been about starting a new year at school. But as I got older it became a time…

view more »

July

Friday 3rd July 2020

Stealing Thunder, my latest book, is finally finished and I’m halfway through the editing process. One would think with all this social distancing I should have…

view more »

June

Wednesday 3rd June 2020

May was not a month I necessarily want to remember. There was a couple of highlights—my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage and our dog Abbey turned 6. But by the end of the month we had been under 10 weeks of lockdown, my godson had coronavirus and was in a hospital in Portland, Maine, (and is doing very well) and George Floyd had been killed by the Minneapolis police, inciting peaceful protests but also igniting looting and many injuries. I lived for many years in Minneapolis and St. Paul—they are wonderful cities. I still have friends, relatives and many wonderful memories of life in the Twin Cities and…

view more »

May

Friday 1st May 2020

I started a journal when ‘lockdown’ began. I hope when I re-read it (if I do!) in ten or fifteen years this whole period feels like a hazy story—with highs and lows. I hope I remember the good things about this ‘lockdown’ period and take to heart the things I’ve learned. I have had moments of…

view more »

April

Thursday 2nd April 2020

In the far reaches of my mind—the part that files everything away for my writing—are constantly emerging plots, characters, locations. But no part of my imagination could have dreamt of a plot where a microscopic particle kills millions of people and brings most of the world to its knees. Not even James Bond in ‘Moonraker’ went this far. And yet here we are. 2020. We are all paying for the hubris of governments who…

view more »

March 2020

Sunday 1st March 2020

I didn’t write a blog for February. After receiving a lot of advice about this, I spent time advertising my books on Facebook for December—stepping WAY out of my comfort zone. When the ‘campaign’ was over I really felt I needed to pull back a bit. Please don’t get me…

view more »

January 2020

Friday 3rd January 2020

Today is the first day I have had since the first of September when I didn’t have much of the day planned—when there wasn’t a list of ‘jobs’ that needed to be done straight away. This is not a complaint—I like having some structure to my life even if it is dictated by jobs I don’t like (cleaning, for instance). And this doesn’t mean there…

view more »

December 2019

Monday 2nd December 2019

As we near the winter solstice, the sun barely makes it over the top of our back hedge (okay, it’s a pretty tall hedge) before plunging out of site like a nightshade drawn down. And then it is pitch black out. More so in our village because—by virtue of public decree?—there are no street lights of any description. To venture out at night without a flashlight would be just about asking for a fall. Which is why I can’t wait for the colored lights to go on our fence (see picture) or for other villagers to string up their Christmas lights. It helps to bring some warmth and cheer to these cold,…

view more »

November

Saturday 2nd November 2019

I’m a day late, but I THINK I have a pretty good excuse. Yesterday, November 1, I finished the first edit of my new Breaking Camp Mystery, CAUTION TO THE WIND. I’m really, really happy with it and am especially fond of the ending. I wasn’t sure how…

view more »

October

Tuesday 1st October 2019

My husband and I have recently returned from a wonderful trip to the USA. We visited places I had been before—the Teton Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, Durango-Silverton Railway, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley,…

view more »

September

Sunday 1st September 2019

It’s the first of September and as usual I find myself ‘seasonally stimulated’. When I was young, September was all about the excitement of going to school, meeting new friends (especially the boys), learning new things, moving one step closer to being a grownup—and independence! I was preparing for an exciting year--for changes! I would have thought as I aged, that anticipation would die down. But it hasn’t. September is still a time of preparation and change for me. Maybe I was a squirrel in my former life and I’m channeling my inner squirrel now—preparing for winter by storing and stocking up. Maybe this is why I made my…

view more »

August

Thursday 1st August 2019

Who is this person? This is a question I kept asking myself as I worked my way through the thousand photos—printed and slides—that I was determined to digitize. Once…

view more »