When I lived in England as a child, my parents and I traveled much of Europe. I recall Ireland as being green as a true leprechaun in my young mind, rugged and beautiful. I never kissed the Blarney Stone (I was too scared to hang by my feet to do it) but I did so many other wonderful things.
I caught a rainbow trout in an icy stream. I hiked through peat on a fog-covered mountain to bear witness to Saint Patrick's Holy Well in Kerry. I recall we walked all that morning through soft peat to Read more [...]
Happy New Year all! First, I am so thrilled to share the money raised toward the Pearl S. Buck Welcome House Adoption Program. For two weeks in December, I promised to donate $1 from each book sale of A Human Element, print or ebook. With your help I sold 71 books and am donating $71 to this wonderful program! Thank you!
Now here's a look back at 2012!
Top visited guest posts on my blog in 2012:
#1 Allison Brennan: How to knock off your characters
New York Times and USA Today bestselling Read more [...]
Christmas is here again. A blend of old memories from Christmases past and new ones being made.
It took a long time for me to feel at peace with the Christmas celebration changes of the last few years as our lives changed. Suddenly, the steady Christmases of my childhood and youth were gone. My parents sold the Upstate New York country home I grew up in and moved south. I no longer could "go home" for Christmas and see all my childhood friends. I got married and moved away. We had a child. Read more [...]
With the holidays here also arrives an increase in depression for many people. Writers? Depressed?
We've all heard about it. Creative genius and depression seem to go hand in hand with many. I know. I suffered depression for many years. And the holidays come with their own heavy, gray veil to be pushed aside.
We know them. Writers who committed suicide.
Sylvia Plath. Virginia Woolf. Anne Sexton. Hunter S. Thompson. Ernest Hemingway.
Why? In the case of Hemingway 4 other immediate Read more [...]