Signing Books at Quarter Moon Books and Gifts!

How I love Quarter Moon Books! Every year, owner Lori Fisher has tweaked her wonderful Topsail Beach store in some exciting new way. This year, she added a patio out front where people can enjoy a smoothie or sip wine from the new wine bar. I love signing books at QMB because, in addition to…

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Beach Renourishment in my Backyard

Well, I brought my work-in-progress down to my Topsail Island condo for some quality revision time. I knew the Topsail Beach beach renourishment project was in full swing, but I didn’t realize I’d have a front row seat for the show! It’s hard to get anything done when I’m riveted by what’s going on outside…

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Father's Day, Don Ho and the Hula

Today is Father’s Day, so I posted this picture of my Dad as my Facebook status. It generated much interest (and a few questions), so I decided to blog about it. My parents, both of whom I lost during this last decade, were . . . unusual. They were a pretty typical mom and dad…

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Booksigning in Topsail

I had a long but fun day today. I drove three hours to Topsail Island for a signing, then three hours home. It was hard to be in one of my favorite places in the world and not be able to spend more time there, but I have too much to do here at home.…

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The Reveal

 Time for the reveal! We’ve had so much fun working with our friend Elizabeth as we remodeled our Topsail Island condo. The before and after pics don’t match up perfectly–this isn’t HGTV after all!–but you get the idea. To start with, we painted the unit a buttery yellow, replaced the sofa and loveseat, painted the…

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The Pledge: Where Did Day Four Go?

I truly don’t know what happened to today. I got up early with great plans, but one thing led to another and the day disappeared with only two pages in the can. I accomplished non-writing things, but that wasn’t part of the pledge, was it? And tomorrow we leave, so I doubt I’ll get much…

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Greetings from Topsail Island

When I decided to set Before the Storm and Secrets She Left Behind on Topsail Island, I never dreamed how important this place would become to me. From my very first research trip,  though, I knew I’d discovered something special. It reminded me of my childhood at the Jersey Shore and of my early adulthood…

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Speaking at Quail Ridge Books

  I always love speaking at Quail Ridge, one of my two favorite Independent Bookstores (the second being Quarter Moon Books in Topsail Beach). Quail Ridge does a good job getting the word out and it has a wonderful setup for the audience. I had such a good time. My favorite part of a speaking…

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