Here you’ll find progress on current books, behind-the-scenes insight and story inspiration, as well peeks at my life on rural, (usually) rainy East Hawaii Island.
The Blog Menu Dropdown highlights three categories, Hawaii Life(pretty self-explanatory), Stories I Love (also pretty self-explanatory, but includes books, movies, and TV), and Magpie Moments (bits I snatched from real life and incorporated, magpie-like, into my fiction).
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Hey, guess what… It’s Friday. Blog post day. [Rushes to microphone because if Dragon doesn’t fritz too much, it’s faster than typing.] In my defense, I knew it was Friday a few hours ago, but then it slipped my mind beneath a cascade of urgent To Dos. And beneath the weight of lingering jet lag. I went to a writers’ conference in Austin over the weekend and returned Wednesday night. I’ll be honest—the travel part reminded me there’s a reason I don’t often leave “the rock.” I took a redeye flight to the mainland Saturday night, and one of my Read more…
It starts innocently enough. A little movement around the edge of the sink, maybe an impromptu gathering under your sponge? In a few hours, you go back and look. Hunh. Are you sure they were actually there? Maybe they’re just not active in the afternoon. Or perhaps you’re a little sleep-deprived thanks to a late-night allergy attack and have eyes full of floaters (you know, those little buggers that make you look back and forth, back and forth, and maybe swat if no one’s looking, trying to decide if you’re crazy or a bug-infested Pigpen). But the signs mount. You’re Read more…
I could really use a business manager. A bunch of other things too (a masseuse, a chef, a self-cleaning dog bed or three, etc.), but lately a business manager is near the top of list. Well, maybe not a business manager per se, just a businessey-type person who—unlike my husband—doesn’t have another job. Admin type things keep catching up with me and piling on, burying me like wet sand. For example, I have a writers conference coming up in less than a month. In theory, I’m excited about it, but I haven’t had time to devote single neuron to preparing. Read more…
This week I thought I’d take a break from writing about fiction for one of my periodic posts about living in Paradise. Which, honestly, is a fiction of another kind. Yep, if you’ve read my posts about the lava flow that rained ash upon us and nearly swallowed a neighboring town, or even the ones about the preponderance of vermin and annoying feral pigs, you’ve probably figured out by now that Hawaii Island isn’t all palm trees and postcards. And if you watched the news at all this week, you can probably guess where I’m heading today… Most Saturdays, we Read more…
Do the rest of you get some kind of magic energy infusion with the New Year? A zip and a zing when you flip the page into January? If so, can you tell me where to get it? Assuming it’s not illegal in Hawaii (or let’s just say not strictly enforced here). Over the past week or two, I had hoped to revisit my Business Plan (maybe an initial visit— have I done a Business Plan?), come up with a Production Schedule, clear off my desk, and just generally <ahem> Get My Shit Together. Instead, crabby and hunched with an Read more…
