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).
Interested in something else? You can also Search for something specific—the little icon is at the end of the header—or just dive in and start scrolling.
How’s it going, Reader Peeps? I’m feeling a little scattered, a little behind, but we all are this time of year, right? Please say yes. 😂 You know, with the holidays, the plague of the moment… Here in East Hawaii, add in two simultaneously erupting volcanic eruptions that are maybe hopefully not so active right now, but still help create voggy skies and a roof full of starving solar panels. All in all, it is definitely a recipe for distraction. If you’re going to be distracted like me, you might as well have something fun to watch. By fun, I Read more…
You may recall that I live off the grid in East Hawaii. That means only solar power (with an occasional generator top-up of the batteries in dire emergencies) and catchment water (gathering rain from the roof). I shower outside unless it’s too cold or raining sideways. What qualifies as too cold in Hawaii? We’re not at elevation, but during the “winter” it can easily drop into the fifties at night. Those mornings I ask myself, do I really want to be fully exposed to the elements right now? We’ve had a few chilly mornings lately, but I haven’t yet taken Read more…
I counted 21 open flowers on this orchid, another 14 buds, and even more nubbins that promise to be buds that promise to be flowers. Talk about an over-achiever! Yes, it’s been… let’s just say a while since I’ve posted. But I’m still kicking and, per my lovely photographic evidence, still doing it in East Hawaii. Don’t get me wrong—I’ve written a bunch of brilliant blog entries, usually in the shower or in bed at night when I can’t sleep. Of course, you’ll have to take my word for them being brilliant since they never made it from the ether Read more…
Last month, I had an email from an always insightful marketing guy talking about Brussels sprouts. He’d believed he hated the vegetable until a girlfriend convinced him to try them at a restaurant. The verdict: amazing. Now, properly prepared, he considers them a treat. (By the way, the itty bitty brassicas are actually Brussels—not brussel—sprouts, as they were named for the Belgian capital. You’re welcome.) I’m okay with Brussels sprouts and just about any other vegetable, but I generally don’t love fruit. (Lychee and dragonfruit are exceptions.) Shocking, I know, but it’s not like I’m a chef or nutritionist. I Read more…
I’m participating in a giveaway with a bunch of other authors–almost fifty books in multiple genres (mystery, sci fi, urban fantasy, romance) that are all free. You don’t have to join a mailing list to download the books. Just pick them up for free from your favorite retailer. Among the stories on offer is my own novel, Back to Lazarus. The first book in the Sydney Brennan PI mysteries, it is regular $3.99 but now free for a limited time. She’s investigating a suspicious prison suicide. Someone’s determined to hide the truth… North Florida, 2004. Private Investigator Sydney Brennan cut Read more…
