HEARTSTRUNG Book 3 of the Invisibles Series My new book is a sequel to Return to Lerici, Book 3 of The Invisibles series. I’m now in the process of finishing the manuscript. The story follows Daniel, a young man who was sort of adopted into the Greene family of The Invisibles and Return to Lerici. Daniel is n love, and he travels with his girlfriend Lara on an adventure to India, following what Lara calls her…
Are we all in the autumn spirit yet? Would you enjoy a novel set in Italy’s holiday season? How about some romance, family, and mystery in a story set on the Italian coast, when sisters inherit a dead poet’s cottage. Only the poet isn’t entirely gone. THE INVISIBLES – ON AMAZON It was a lot of fun writing this book during the season of holidays — Halloween, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I put…
When I start writing a new novel, I experiment with how to begin, and this year I tried writing my story’s key scenes first, right after I wrote to discover the characters. I wrote to hear their voices, frame their backgrounds and culture, shape their appearances, and decide what kind of relationship they will explore. Is it an adventure, a romance, a family drama, or a woman’s journey of self-discovery?
Story of a Young Writer Dreams of becoming a writer are almost part of the human condition. We all feel a need to document the lives we’re living, especially as we get older. But some of us had that urge from the beginning. I sure did, starting about age ten. And I sometimes hear from others who began young to dream of becoming a writer. Recently I received an email from a librarian and teacher…
Ode to My Purse The three French handbags came with lifetime warranties. Clasping heavy straps, I cinch them saddle-tight against the grasping world. Dark wells, they incubate details, stash my days in hidden rooms. My black postman’s case clacks clock-neat on thigh, ticking tasks. Weekends I sling a red pouch that eats torn tickets and topless lipsticks. Keys to many locks eel through my caramel creel. Open Purse, I say: swallow phone, glasses, cash. Bring…
A Memorial Day Poem Memorial Day comes at the start of summer, an apparent dichotomy as we picnic and party, but also mark the great sacrifices that created America. We honor millions of men and women who died for our cherished freedoms and our form of democratic government . The American way of life is not cheap. It has been purchased by the lives and blood of so many who have sacrificed for us. A…
Solace From Small Birds A house finch built her nest on the garland of the front door next to ours. This is a week when our dear Soul-friend has just departed. We first noticed twigs on the doormat, then sticking up above the round of faux leaves. Then we heard the cheeping. Now a finch mom and pop sit on eggs at our passageway. Coming and going, we must be quiet under our avian blessing.…
Getting book reviews is often wonderful and even instructive for an author. You learn a lot by knowing what someone loved in your story and what they didn’t love as much. I especially value comments from fellow authors, who know how much goes into the writing and publishing of a novel. I was especially pleased when Suanne Schafer, editor, author, and regular book reviewer, read and reviewed my newest. Her full review and wonderful website…
I would say that magical realism in poetry (and fiction) removes the argument of “likeness”. It simply plunges the reader mysteriously into an altered world. It offers mystery as a doorway. It isn’t always an easily entered door, but once you walk through, things have changed.
Consider Louise Gluck’s poem, “The Wild Iris”. ‘It doesn’t use metaphor or simile. The story is simply told from the point of view of a flower that is somehow conscious.
Clouds have always intrigued me. They’re like immense art murals on giant walls that you walk past every day without giving them thought. But I give them thought all the time. I try to decipher them. I take photos, hoping that later I can crack their mysterious code. I can’t help taking them personally, learning their names and causes. The evanescent formation mystify and grab me, as if they’re trying to say something to me.…