Last Sunday, a group of heat-hardened, brave Bloomingtonians attended my first reading. I was nervous all morning, pacing, drinking coffee and rechecking my list of what to take. I needed books, of course, the new medieval map giveaways, reading glasses, bookmarks, business cards and my official signing pen. Yes, authors are supposed to use a […]
First Reading and Signing Read More »
To celebrate the release of my newest historical teen novel, Escape from the Past – The Duke’s Wrath, I’m giving away free stuff this week. Everyone who’s purchasing a copy by 7.31.2015 will receive A PDF of the coolest medieval map to accompany the story. The map will also be helpful for book 3 because
Freebies Coming Your Way Read More »
So here it is. Finally after six years of intense writing, editing and rewriting. After finding a literary agent and letting him go, after endless rounds of edits, I’m officially published. I expected this occasion to feel momentous, yet I’m finding that I’m more anxious than excited. All these years I’ve written in the privacy
From Writer to Author Read More »
This morning I was reading on the Writers Unboxed blog about how readers who don’t like the book you wrote may post bad reviews. The author talked about the content kicking off the reader’s imagination and that sometimes a reader is just not taken by a story. Whether it’s not to their taste, period, or
As I’m renewing my struggle with the first chapter of a manuscript I wrote five years ago, I’m perusing a lot of the advice on first chapters. I’ve noticed that the majority of first chapters of contemporary fiction, no matter what the genre, are extremely well written. Often the quality diminishes later in the book,
Do’s and Don’ts of First Chapters Read More »
This week my short story BITTERSWEET was published by The Write Place At the Write Time, a literary magazine. Like BLACK MARKET, published in April 2014, this story tells the struggles of three kids/youths during and after WWII from the perspective of civilian Germans. As mentioned in the byline I began interviewing my parents about
What Happened to the German Children During WWII? Read More »
Sunshine, Food for the winter soul, Cold heart warming, Fresh breath of spring, Welcome. As long as I can remember we, my husband and I, have worked under stringent time constraints. Our calendars and watches dictated the day. Things were organized at our house. Breakfast at six a.m., dinner at six p.m., lots of commitments,
Life is A-Changing Read More »
It’s amazing what happens when you remove yourself from the everyday grind. All of a sudden the world is full of possibilities. We get to sit still and think instead of rushing to address the next thing on our never-ending list. We have new ideas, we get creative. I grew up always working and lining
It’s not Thanksgiving anymore, but watching videos of people attacking each other on Black Friday sort of brought into focus, what I find important to remember. If I think over the items I’ve purchased during the year I can’t recall any lingering enjoyment from any of them. In fact, most of the time I can’t
I think the reason why many people don’t care for history is that textbooks and many teachers insist on drilling numbers and years. Battle X and skirmish Y, who became president and when a monarchy changed into a democracy. Who cares? I was one of those kids sitting in the classroom dreaming of escape when
What History Could Teach Us If We Listened Read More »