Not a lot going on here.  The new book’s coming along (41,800 words), no new news on the other books, been taking the kids to the zoo, the beach, getting a new boiler today (hot water! after a week of cold showers!).  In other words, there’s not a lot to blog about and I’m too lazy to come [...]

Each of the nine summers we’ve lived here we’ve had a vegetable garden.  It started out, as many things do, on a very small scale.  A few tomato plants and spices in a scrubby and way-too-shady part of the backyard.  The yield that year: nothing.  We tried a sunnier spot the second summer – still in a bare and weedy area - [...]

Actually vacation was a lot of fun, if not restful.  The weather was gorgeous, local food awesome.  But danger lurks wherever you travel with three small boys.  Especially when none of them can swim and you’re on an island.  Boy #2 left with an iguana bite, #3 left with a black eye and nose.  There [...]

One: Thanks to all the blog commenters over the past four days!  We raised $77 for the Berks County Public Libraries.  A complete list of participating blogs is here and many of the challenges are still active - stop by to comment & increase their donation amount, if you can.   Two: After many late nights, the first round of Vision’s [...]

There’s been so much else going on over the last few weeks, that I haven’t gotten to post about my new-and-improved office that’s increased my zen by about a hundred-fold.  Same space.  Sadly, same wallpaper.  But new otherwise.  Here’s what it looked like before: Not bad at all.  Pleasant.  Bright.  My own space, separate from the dining room [...]

Or: My Friends Are the Most Awesomest Ever! I’d decided to skip having a launch party for my book.  Mostly because I just didn’t think I could swing the time it takes to plan that sort of thing and a little because it felt weird to have a party that’s all about ME.   Last night, [...]

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us all be thankful.  –Buddha  So cheery, that Buddha.  [...]

We’ll be trick or treating tonight, will you?  A little more radio silence on the blog front until Tuesday, when I send Vision back to my agent (her changes were brilliant).  But next week, keep an eye out for a Hush, Hush & swag giveaway at the Tenners and an ARC giveaway for The Mark [...]

After a bunch of years in metro NY, I’ve finally made it to the last of NYC’s five boroughs, Staten Island.   The first four were easy: Manhattan – lived there.  Seven years, four apartments, none bigger than my living room. Brooklyn – I might have been there more, but only remember apartment hunting in Brooklyn Heights with Beth (now one [...]

I’m just back from vacation and – with a nod to the Go-Go’s – here’s what we did. We spent the week in Rockport, MA a truly charming New England fishing/tourist/art colony town, three things that are an oddly perfect mix.   I haven’t read Suzanne Selfors’ Coffeehouse Angel yet, but every review talks about the Swedish fishing town it’s set in [...]