Bat Appreciation Day

Night, full moon and bats

Bats over the years have gained an undeserved unsavory reputation, but they have a lot of good in them.

Beyond Normal Revisited

Four years ago today, while going through chemotherapy for Leukemia and Lymphoma, I was having a pretty rough day, so I blogged about it on my cancer site. The post was titled, Life Beyond Normal, because at that point, my normal had been stripped away, turned completely upside down, shaken, and forever changed. I had to learn what my limits … Read More

Belief

As I am working on the first book in my Homeless Myths series, The Star Warriors and the Secret of the Red Key, the topic of belief systems is present all the time. With Myths in the series name, those things are running through my head. Why do we believe the things we do. What do these kids believe? How … Read More

Chocolate and the Endangered Species

I have been a chocolate lover my entire life. Unfortunately, I was tortured as a child because I was not allowed to have chocolate because I was allergic to it. Turns out I never was allergic to chocolate itself, but chocolate when paired with other things. Good thing I’m a purist and love plain chocolate the best. 🙂 By the … Read More

And So It Begins … Again

When I saw the oncologist last week we didn’t have the results from the CT Scan. I saw my regular physician this week and he had the results. And I’ll be candid … they aren’t good. The scan revealed what I already knew — that the nodule on my neck was not the only lymphoma mass that would be found. … Read More

What Makes a Book Middle Grade?

Recently, I was discussing the arc for the Middle Grade (MG) series I am currently researching with an author friend who asked, “Are you sure this isn’t YA (Young Adult)?” My response was an immediate and unequivocal, “Yes.” The question was valid as what we had been discussing could potentially be morphing into the YA realm. But I am firm … Read More

Hackers Not Welcome Here

A few weeks ago my main website got hacked in a big way. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, my site was busy spamming the internet because it had been connected into a network of sites all directing links to various other sites, ultimately trying to either infect the poor soul on the royal goose chase with some sort of virus, or … Read More

Renewal of a Quest

My quest for health is paved with good intentions — and erratic execution. Last year this time, I was recovering from one knee surgery and getting ready for a second, but health wise, I was doing better and better. Then I lost a bit of steam as we slid into fall and have taken a few stabs at getting back … Read More

Change in Values

It has been awhile since I updated this blog … and for good reason — there hasn’t been anything to say. Two years ago, April 10th, I had my last chemo treatment. File that under “WOW, Time flies!!” Today, I had my quarterly blood-letting to check to see how things are going. In some respects, those two years have passed … Read More

Do You Believe?

A couple nights ago, I took a rare moment and watched a movie. Not something I have an opportunity to do very often because I’m juggling so many different things, but it had been a rough week and I needed to decompress a bit. I chose Little Boy, which is set in World War II times, and is primarily about … Read More

Warning Deadline Approaches

Along with juggling quite a few things I can’t talk about, I have been working diligently on my latest WIP, a dark upper YA novel, Speak No Evil. I am excited about how this book is shaping up and how close I am to the finish line with it. Then I happened to have a conversation with my literary manager … Read More

Omniscient Point of View

Last week I talked about head hopping and why we shouldn’t and I mentioned the omniscient POV (Point of View) as not being a part of the discussion. Head hopping means jumping from character to character and changing viewpoint. Omniscient is an unseen/unknown narrator who knows what everyone is thinking or feeling. I had the following question asked of me, … Read More