Understanding Emotions

When I write I have to recognize and find ways to make others feel a myriad of emotions. I want my readers to become the characters, to experience everything the character experiences, even when it’s fear or frustration. Or grief. Grief was uppermost in my mind this week as we celebrated the life of one … Read more

Weighing in on the Upcoming Year

Once a year Capt. Mark and I go off to some nice place away from home, boat, and friends to plot out the entire year…just like a novel. We are the hero and heroine who must overcome the obstacles…ideas that are too big and cash flow that’s too small. But we slog on, relentlessly tackling … Read more

Old Dog, New Tricks

Publishing two novels while living on a moving boat has a downside. You can’t meet and greet readers when you’re fighting chop in the Chesapeake or tied to a lock wall in Canada. “But your books are eBooks,” you say, “So what about an Internet book launch?” My first book, “A Kiss of Cabernet” had … Read more

Rain, Rain Go Away…

I don’t mean it. I live in California. We need the rain. Hillsides are green, the roses will be as big as cabbages this year, and swimming pools won’t have to be topped off until summer. But l prefer it in small doses, not day after day in an El Nino pattern. Eighteen months ago, … Read more