My author self is feeling maudlin today.

maud·lin

adjective

1.

tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental: a maudlin story of a little orphan and her lost dog.

2.

foolishly or mawkishly sentimental because of drunkenness.

Okay, admittedly, it is not the second definition. It is only nine o’clock in the morning after all. Not noon.

I love ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Do you ever get so hungry that when you open the refrigerator door, you can only stare because nothing sounds good enough or fast enough? When you take inventory of the pantry contents you simply sigh, close the door and go back to what you were doing ( Read more... )

First, my short story, Bungling Lulu, is available online for your reading pleasure. Who ever heard of a clumsy pixie? Poor Lulu struggles to remember all the rules of flying. I’d appreciate if you’d leave a comment and share the story link to make me look popular.

Second, my short story, Dragon Drool, is in the current issue of Beyond Centauri ( ( Read more... )

It is like a hunger that won’t be satiated. A thirst that won’t be quenched. It seems like I drink and drink only to feel more parched. You know that mosquito bite on the arch of your foot? The one you scratch until it’s raw, but still itches? It’s like that. It feels like the need is eating away inside me and leaving a growing hollowness, like a ( Read more... )

This week I wrap up my career with Habitat for Humanity. It’s sad, I don’t want to leave, but those are the cards I’ve been dealt.  In 5 ½ years I’ve witnessed 35 families purchase their homes and take on the responsibility of homeownership. I’ve worked with countless selfless volunteers who, like me, believe everyone deserves the opportunity for ( Read more... )

Let’s hearken back about two years ago when ereaders were starting to get more attention. I was one of those people who said,  “Yes, they will be popular.”

I envisioned people everywhere pulling out their readers on buses, in coffee shops in classrooms.  I imagined the morning paper on a reader lying on the table next to a steaming cup. I truly ( Read more... )

Recently, I alluded to the fact that I was going to bow out of my role on the choir’s board of directors when my term came up at the end of the year. Immediately the other members started to rib me about how, now that I’m a published author, I don’t have time for stuff like board meetings. I agreed (tongue in cheek) that being a public personality ( Read more... )

We know that an aspiring author needs to possess mass quantities of persistence. But honey, the persistence you tapped then is the equivalent of dipping your toes into the deep, cold waters of Lake Try Again. Promotion requires a scuba diving license and the lung capacity of a tuba player.

It isn’t that you or your book isn’t valued or appreciated ( Read more... )

I’m straying far from the topic of writing for this post.  But who am I to not use this skill that I’m working so hard to develop to call attention this issue. So, this is a “Call to Action” if you will for my fellow countrymen.

I have figured out the core problem in this country and Yahoo - with all their investigative talents - were the ones to ( Read more... )