Keeper, Jet and the Roomba
I’m so tired of always having fur on my carpets! I’m even more tired of vacuuming, so I decided to try a Roomba. Here’s the first few seconds of its inaugural voyage across my living room floor (the clumps of dog fur were planted by me, I hasten to add, but there are days when…
Read MoreMy iPad: First Impressions
Actually, these are my second impressions. My first weren’t so good, but that was because: a) I have no Mac experience; b) I wanted to learn to do many complicated things at once, and preferably by osmosis; and c) I am impatient. Oh, and d) I neglected to notice the User’s Guide, which really is…
Read MoreThe Writer's Brain is a Weird and Exhausting Thing
A few nights ago when I was getting ready for bed, I had a nighty-night pill and my earplugs waiting for me on my nightstand. Not thinking, I reached for an earplug and my bottle of water, catching myself when I had the earplug an inch from my mouth (which is much better than the…
Read MoreThe (Probable) Winner for The Escape Artist E-book Cover
Counting all the votes on my blog and Facebook page, it looks like this cover is the winner for the e-book reissue of The Escape Artist. First, I’ll play with it a little–soften the focus and tweak a few other things to make it more to my liking. But I do love this little guy. He…
Read MoreVote for The Escape Artist's E-book Cover
I’m starting the process of making The Escape Artist available as an e-book. It will take a little while, as you can see by the process I went through to get Secret Lives up and running, but I’m already playing with cover ideas. Please help me by voting for your favorite. Which cover draws you…
Read MoreWhat Kind of Cook are You?
I just finished Elizabeth Berg‘s Year of Pleasures, which was lovely, as all of her books are. Her values shine through without clobbering you over the head, and they are so similar to my own core values that I always find myself nodding along as I read. I think Elizabeth and I could be great…
Read MoreFinished. . . Again
I believe this is draft #8 of The Midwife’s Confession. Yes, all of you who are trying to write a book and believe that once you’ve typed The End you’ll have a publishable novel, you are 99 times out of 100, wrong. You have to do it again until you get it right. I think I now…
Read MoreThere's a Reason I Have a Roll-Top Desk
I’m revising for a Monday deadline, so I’ve been a little neglectful of my blog this week. But I thought I’d take a minute to show you my wonderful roll top desk during the throw-everything-anywhere phase of the revision process. I saw this Winners Only desk about ten years ago, when I moved into my…
Read MoreThe Secret Life of . . . Wilkes, the Brittany Spaniel!
As I’ve said so often on my blog, I love my readers! I heard from one of them, Autumn Fenton, on Facebook today. Autumn told me that she named one of her dogs ‘Wilkes’ after CeeCee Wilkes! I think that’s a first. I’ve named a couple of my own dogs after my books (Chapel after the…
Read MoreLeaving Mayo and the Cursed Research
Hey, blog readers, thanks for hanging out with me this week! We’re sitting in our hotel room tonight and John just gave me a thumbs up and said “Good week!” and he’s so right. It’s been quite an experience in many ways, and I’ll never again baste a turkey without thinking of “the oven” (I’m still…
Read More