On the Occasion of Her Seventy-Seventh Birthday

Mom turns seventy-seven today. I took a cake over to the nursing facility yesterday and sang “Happy Birthday” to her with a small group of residents, staff, and my dad. No candles. We didn’t even set the decorated cake in front of Mom. Dad sat next to her, both of them in their respective wheelchairs,…

Read More

Sass & Shenanigans: An Interview with Rochelle Bradley

Author Rochelle Bradley and I go way back. Okay, well maybe not that far back, but I met her (in person!) shortly after participating in (and becoming a fan of) National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Rochelle’s Fortuna, Texas, series is contemporary romance that readers absolutely love. One reviewer wrote of the first book in the…

Read More

Free Ebook on February 5 and 6!

Just in time to celebrate my aunt’s birthday . . . Rewrite the Stars is free this weekend! Well, at least the ebook is! If you’re a fan of women’s fiction with romantic elements and you’re looking for a book with authentic, complex characters, this book is for you! Grab your free copy by clicking…

Read More

Twenty: The Moment

Dear Zoe and Talia, It just hit me this morning (many years too late) that I probably should have been writing you separate birthday letters—you are, after all, separate people. But I decided I wasn’t going to feel guilty about that because I have so many other items already on the things-to-feel-guilty-about list. Plus, I…

Read More

The One about the Hospital, II

With the pandemic living situation still current, many of my days blend one into the other, only delineated by a music lesson here or an appointment there. Otherwise, I’m on a repeat cycle of writing, editing, and Zoom teaching. Breaks are no better—maybe even worse—because without the structure of teaching, I rarely remember what day…

Read More

Art & Soul: An Interview with Rob Samborn

Thrillers seem to be on-trend right now—and maybe they always have been—but that puts author Rob Samborn in a good place. His debut novel, The Prisoner of Paradise, released in November, and so far, it’s garnering great reviews! Author Ruthie Marlenée wrote, “Not to be out shadowed by the historical and conspiracy thriller writing luminaries…

Read More

Even More Words for the New Year 7

Well, friends, we’ve had another interesting year, have we not? Here we are, two years into this pandemic, a year past vaccinations began, and we’re still hearing complaints about mask usage and vaccine mandates. We’ve proven that vaccines work (if you’re vaccinated, you might get a breakthrough case, but it looks like you won’t be…

Read More