Worry and Woe
Digging In
For someone who hates being cold, I love winter hiking. There are no ticks or mosquitoes to contend with, no vicious horse flies, no gasping for air in the humid New England summer. Often, particularly if the weather is unpleasant, the Slobbering Beast and I can go for miles without seeing another human soul. There’s…
Read MoreGot Nothing
Except two article deadlines and a sick child home with me. It’s amazing how quickly the whole idea of ‘balance’ can be thrown out of whack by a bad cough and small fever. I’m grateful it isn’t worse, and until I have the time to post something more profound, I wanted to show you this:…
Read MoreStabbed Through the Heart
This is the view from the parking lot of my children’s preschool. It’s a magical place, where every single teacher is amazing beyond words. I hike nearby, and sometimes I’ll stop in for a little-kid fix. I love watching the three and four-year olds tippy-toe running, their hands outstretched, confident someone will be there to…
Read MoreWoolly Mammoths
So, today there was no school in our town, since several of the schools are polling locations. Normally, I am happy happy happy to have my children home, but today, I was looking at three deadlines that raised their hairy eyebrows and leered menacingly at me. Not to mention that I am doing a pretend…
Read MoreSandy
There’s a character in my new book. She’s wild, impetuous, the kind of woman everyone takes notice of when she walks into a room, a woman who leaves a trail of heartbreak and destruction wherever she goes. Her name? Sandy. Yesterday, the real Sandy tried to sock my city in the eye. She blew out…
Read MoreWho Owns Author?
Last week, I wrote about the difference between the terms writer and author. This week I want to know, when do you get to call yourself an author? I have friends who write for very well-known blogs, or have established blogs of their own, but haven’t written a complete manuscript and thus won’t use the…
Read MoreSpring Ahead
When we moved to our current house, eight years ago, I bought a bag of 100 daffodil bulbs. It seemed a ridiculous number, a luxurious indulgence, and as I planted the brown lumps I imagined a riot of yellow color, uncountable riches poking through the ground to announce Spring’s arrival. It’s my favorite season, and…
Read MoreBanishing Writer's Block
Back when I started writing Evenfall, I had very little time for writer’s block. I had one, then two, small children, a barn full of horses to keep fed and cleaned, and a very busy freelance job. Writing fiction was a break, a moment stolen from other responsibilities. It was fun. Today, the horses are…
Read MoreReleasing the Reins
In third grade, I’d exhausted the books in ‘my’ section of the school library. I’d plowed through all the Little House books, the Chronicles of Narnia, and their ilk. I was bored and wanted something more. When the reading van came to school (remember the reading van?) I was one of the first in line.…
Read MorePink Socks
Hey there. I had such grand plans for this blog entry –brilliant posts about tea, or riding, or reading and riding and letting go. But then I caught a cold, and the Slobbering Beast cut his foot (I don’t think he even noticed, but it looked as if Jason had visited our house) and I…
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