Dual Timelines

Blogging about dual timelines over at What Women Write. Check out the family history...

Sarah Stonich's Shelter

Have you seen my review of Sarah Stonich's Shelter? Stop by What Women Write for a chance to win a copy.

Check out the book trailer here...

Super, super moon

Saturday night my husband and I packed up the trunk with 2 collapsible chairs, his camera and tripod, my notebook and two missions. His was to capture the super moon as a digital image, mine was to capture it on paper. I shined a flashlight on his nimble fingers as they changed the settings and twisted caps, then I sat down in a chair and tried to set to paper the ideas running rampant in my head.

My eyes blurred at the brightness yet I could think of nothing eloquent, nothing unusual to write. This moon, which I’m sure I’ve never seen, shows up only every eighteen years. Eighteen years ago I was cleaning closets, setting up a crib and bumpers, moaning about my aching back.

I’ve surely seen plenty of full moons, slivered moons, even harvest moons. But I don’t remember a moon as bright as the sun. There is plenty more I don’t remember of the last eighteen years.

On a walk yesterday, we passed a family: two parents, a toddler boy and two puppies. Not miniature schnauzers like our Mollie and Madison, but Westie puppies, also tiny, also brother and sister. Not too long after the last super moon appeared, my family of five was likely taking a similar walk. Perhaps an older couple stopped to say hello, to say with their eyes what they dare not say aloud: hold on tight to this little hand, look for the unusual in every day, don't dare wish away this time.

The next super moon will be here in a blink of an eye.

Countdown to Kate Morton - is over

Today's the day!

I have long been a fan of the brilliant Kate Morton. Not only have I read each of her novels more than once, but I've dissected and studied them to learn more about the craft of writing.

On What Women Write, I have the glorious honor of sharing Kate Morton's words with our loyal readers...and hopefully many new ones.

Here again is my review of her latest, The Distant Hours, shown here on my bookshelf of favorites!

The perfect ending?

Have you ever become engrossed in a novel, only to be disappointed in the end? A writer must deliver!

Lookout for Monday

Head over to What Women Write on Monday, February 7 when Joanna Penn, author of the thriller, Pentecost, stops by on her blog tour.

From my beautiful sisters...

Look what I found in the mail yesterday!

Ode to Joan, with apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow













Listen my sisters and you shall hear
Of the 50th birthday of a sister dear
On the fourteenth of December, a long time ago
Driven to the hospital through ice and through snow
Went Sylvia in December that year.

It was nearly ten by the kitchen clock
When they sped away into the night
The sisters listened to the quiet tick-tock
And sat and waited as time passed.
And the living room lights, few and dim
Blinked off and on as if by whim
And the two girls wondered how long it would last
Until their father returned and things seemed right.

About half past six by the delivery room clock
The baby emerged into the world.
They heard her voice and took stock
Of black hair, tiny hands and blue eyes
A lovely girl of a pleasing size.
Around Dad’s finger her little hand curled
They saw the beauty in form and in face
And the crying in her soft, sweet tones
They brought her home to her own little place.

For, borne on the night-wind of the past
Through all our history, to the last
We still remember how happy we were
To behold the sweet baby, lovely and new
We loved and adored and cherished her
And realize today that this is still true.

(author, Ellen Korb)