I spent all last week on the couch, desperately trying to be well for my Saturday signing at the Carbondale Barnes & Noble. (Turned out I have a sinus infection that’s now, finally, almost mended.) The wonderful Heidi Houghton, from the store, had been working hard to set up a horror event for …Read More

When I write a novel or story, it doesn’t really belong to me. It belongs to the characters telling the story. Sure, I often write in the third person so that I seem to be observing. But I’m just the spokesperson for the vast array of characters that live–okay, I’m busted. I create them all …Read More

      It wasn’t until we were cleaning up the dinner dishes last Thursday night, and my husband mentioned that there were only three months left until Christmas, that I remembered that September 25th was a special anniversary for me. On September 25th, 2007, Isabella Moon, my debut novel, was published in hardcover. I took me eight years …Read More

I got some really good news this week. The American Library Association’s Booklist publication, which goes out to libraries, reviewed my latest novel, Charlotte’s Story, and gave it a star. Now, if you’re a Dr. Seuss fan, as I am, you might not think much of stars. The Sneetches is a book devoted to the debunking of the …Read More

    You know I can’t stay out of Bliss House for long, right? Even as I work on the 2016 Bliss House novel–THE ABANDONED HEART–and get ready for the release of CHARLOTTE’S STORY in October, I’m dreaming up more stories. So I took some time this summer to write you a short story. A …Read More

    Today BLISS HOUSE is officially one year old, and is now available in paperback! I dreamed a long time about writing this book–specifically ever since I read my first grown-up haunted house novel, THE SENTINEL, by Jeffrey Konvitz. Of course, I’d read JANE EYRE long before that, and the two together early solidified …Read More

    Taking long drives is one of my passions. It doesn’t matter if I’m alone or with someone else. Either way, I feel renewed as the highway unspools behind me. Traveling lets me divide my life into small, manageable sections, like a timeline of events that’s always moving forward. This weekend Husband and I returned …Read More

    I was never a huge Oprah Winfrey Show fan, mainly because I was just out of college and working long days when it first came on. A few years later I was a young mother at home, but I didn’t watch much daytime television because it felt like such an indulgence (except for my …Read More

      I spend a lot of time evaluating the relative value/usefulness of things. I want just the right tool at the proper time–but it shouldn’t be extravagant or wasteful. Comparison and criticism are nasty bedfellows. In the past I have silently judged infrequent cooks for buying $300 dutch ovens, when I know my …Read More

    Every book I write has its own special backstory: the way it came about, the books I read or films I watched while writing it, what was going on in my marriage, my diet, or inside my head. I can make all the plans I like (though I never write to a strict …Read More