YWS: Embracing Failure

You’ve done it. You conceived of a story idea, sat down and wrote ALL the words and finally reached the point where you typed The End. You’re exhilirated. The world will gasp and hold its sides at how perfect your story is. It is, without a doubt, a work of art … sheer poetry in prose form. I’ll be honest … Read More

Be The Cat

I have changed the name of my blog. It really didn’t have a name before, it was simply my author blog. The place for me to talk about my books, issues my characters encounter between the pages, writing in general, etc. And that hasn’t changed. The reason for the change came about due to a few factors. First, the blog … Read More

Career Day at Heritage Intermediate

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend Career Day at Heritage Intermediate School — and I had a blast. It was a banner day for me in so many ways. First, I love the opportunity to talk to my readers. But more than that, the Career Day was my first in person appearance after publishing 7th Grade Revolution … in … Read More

Baby Sloths

As many of you know, I have a great affection for sloths — especially my character Sergio, so they always get my attention in my social media feeds. When I saw this video of sloths being treated for mange and how darling they looked in their little “onsies”, I couldn’t help but share. It makes me want to work on … Read More

YWS: The Big Bad Block

You’re all set … you’ve got the right notebook and right pen, or your computer screen is ready and the cursor is blinking at you from the page. You settle in take a deep breath — and you’ve got nothing. Not a single thought of where the story is going. Not a single word to scribble or type. Nada. Bubkis. … Read More

On Saving Rin

Over the past little bit, I’ve posted about how eating the right chocolate can help save the mouse lemur and how Cryptozoologists in their search for cryptids can help identify hitherto unknown species, like the pygmy three-toed sloth … so I’d like to share some exciting things happening to help save the golden lion tamarin and several other endangered species. … Read More

Did the Search for Nessie Help Save Sergio?

On the face of it, Cryptozoologists* and wildlife conservation scientists** don’t have much in common. Cryptozoology is widely considered a pseudoscience because its enthusiasts don’t follow conventional scientific methods while searching for monsters and mythological creatures, like Nessie and Bigfoot, which are also known as cryptids. Most conservation scientists don’t want to be associated with monsters and monster-hunting, but are … Read More

YWS: Where Do You Start?

You’ve just had a fabulous idea for a story and your brain is bursting with all the details and you cannot wait to write it. You sit down at the keyboard and pull up a page, or grab a notepad if you draft long hand, and the blank page mocks you with its emptiness. The only thing on your mind … Read More

Bullying and the Dangers of Labels

In my writing the theme of bullying frequently pops up because bullying situations occur from childhood through adulthood. No one remains unscathed. If not bullied, you may have been the bullier, or you have seen someone else being bullied. And oftentimes we are reluctant to accept that we are being bullied, or if we accept it, we don’t want others … Read More

Infusion Day

Now that I’m a hair less exhausted and might be able to construct a legible sentence or two, I thought I’d share how my infusion day went. Because of the length of time the treatment takes, I have to be to the doctor’s office by 8:30 AM which means leaving the house around 7:30 … just in case I run … Read More

Beware of the Sypot

First off a warning to the reader: this post is likely to be riddled with sypot of all kinds — misspelled words, missing words, or maybe a sentence or two that makes absolutely no sense. I am making no apology for how you find this post, it is as I am writing it and will probably not go back when … Read More

Unexpected Infusion

I am getting to this post a little late because things happened fairly quickly and I have been on the tired side of late — kind of like the kitten passed out in the picture. After my latest cold, which took a few weeks to get rid of, I went back on my chemo treatment and when I went to … Read More