I read so many blog posts and Facebook updates from authors who are carrying the huge burden of producing less than the author who lives down the street or even producing less than the goal on their personal writing plan. That prolific author Laura DiSilverio, for instance, writes 2,000 words a day no matter what. …Read More
Saying Good-bye to the Grapes and the Trellis
The wind broke the main post of my grape trellis off at the base this winter. It’s leaning precariously, but tied to the aspen tree to make sure it doesn’t collapse across the sidewalk. Poor broken thing. I’ll be taking it down piece by piece as soon as the rains stop and the ground dries …Read More
Random Thoughts on My Writing Life
I’ll be at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference tomorrow and Saturday. I love writers’ conferences and mystery fan conventions and wish I could attend them all. This year I’m sticking to the NCW conference this week and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference in September (registration for this one opens soon). Cats and …Read More
Coming Soon: A report on the arrival of Sassy Dog in the Stoltey household
My husband and I drove from Colorado to Illinois last Thursday/Friday, picked up Sassy the Scottish Terrier on Saturday morning, then drove back to Colorado over Saturday and Sunday. The dog traveled better than the humans did. Road trips are exhausting at our age. Sassy, of course, is much younger. She seemed to remember me …Read More
A Day in the Life . . . of (and by) Mystery Author C. Hope Clark
What is this fascination by readers of how an author lives? Or how the author writes? Or how the author rises in the morning and goes to sleep at night? I thought I’d be quick and say I don’t really care about those writers, but that got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be cool to know …Read More
Another Week Gone By…..Geesh, Where Does the Time Go?
I can’t believe it’s already Friday again. I do know where the time has gone though. Physical therapy appointments, lots of exercise sessions at home, doctor appointments (I had the staples removed yesterday!!!!). Everything is moving along as it should, and I’m so happy I finally got this done. I have a stable knee and …Read More
Time Sure Flies!
Wow! It’s Friday already. Everything is fine! I got home from the hospital on Wednesday and had my first physical therapy appointment this morning. I’m following those PT orders, doing my exercise sets a lot, and really looking forward to a very speedy recovery. And I’m taking naps! They don’t offer “rest and relaxation” as …Read More
Unfriending Your Couch … by Rich Keller
Pat, a plethora of thanks for allowing me to spew my verbiage on the site that is your Intranets web document. I wish you the best of luck on your medical procedure, although I’m not too sure total body plastic surgery is the way to go. Still, it’s your choice if you wish to look …Read More
For the love of “old stuff”: the Chaw’se Miwok and Me … by Catriona McPherson
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy in Northern California but sometimes I miss the . . . old stuff that surrounded me in Scotland. The mediaeval streets, the fortified castles, the Roman walls, and of course the really old stuff: the standing stones. I’ve got an ambivalent attitude to standing stones, actually. I sort …Read More
Dark Night of the Soul … by Robert Spiller
Van Morrison sings of being Torn Down ala Rimbaud. This experience of finding oneself in the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ is by no means unique to either Van the Man or Arthur Rimbaud, the wonderful French poet. Sinners and saints all speak of falling so low that they have nowhere to go but up. …Read More