Blog

Earlier this month, I was at Refeather Your Nest in downtown Mount Vernon, WA, signing and selling books. I just love being there. The store is like a wonderland and the people, both those working in the shop and those coming in to browse and shop, are so warm and...

In protest of Punxsutawney Phil’s outrageous prediction of another six weeks of winter, I just ordered poppy and zinnia flower seeds and cleared the kitchen garden! Daffy and tulip bulbs are popping up nicely and the rhubarb as well. And the heather is in bloom! And...

Happy New Year my Friends! I hope you are excited and hopeful about 2023. I am not one for making resolutions, but I have promised myself that I am not going to allow events that I have no ability to alter or control cause me stress. That doesn’t mean I am going to...

Happy Holidays Dear Friends! May this letter find you and yours making plans to be with family and friends to celebrate love, joy, and peace. Our family will be together on December 23 for dinner in our home. Our children, grandchildren and friends will later...

Ahhhhhh! Finally, rain is forecast this week for the Pacific Northwest. According to the weather bureau, the summer of 2020 was the driest and hottest summer and fall on record for the Seattle greater area, which includes our Skagit Valley. The water levels of our...

Fall has come in like a lamb and even though the mornings and nights are cool, the flowers and vegetables continue to flourish. The garden has produced the most beautiful and delicious tomatoes we have ever grown. If only I had written down the variety so I can...

Another Labor Day Weekend has passed, and most kiddos will be headed back to school. This always seems like another new beginning and one that always holds hope and renewal. In these times, let’s add our prayers for the safety of our children and those that teach...

The end of July found us at West Yellowstone in Montana at beautiful Lake Hebgen. We met daughter Taryn and her family at the lakeside campsite and enjoyed a week of great fishing and family time with our grandsons Wyatt and Colton. The wilderness was also alive with...

This last week I attended the 2022 Chanticleer Authors’ Conference at the beautiful Bellwether Hotel which is situated along Bellingham Bay. The weather was gorgeous every day, the presenters informative, collaborative, and entertaining. The best part of the...

June 21 is the summer solstice, the official first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. On the solstice, planet earth is tilted at an angle towards the sun where it receives the longest duration of sunlight making solstice the longest day of the year. Here in the...

May is a month of anticipation and hope. Trees and flowers begin to bloom, the grass begins to green, birds are singing and thoughts of spending hours in the gardens fill my mind and imagination.  And now for a bit of interesting trivia. The month of May entered...

It’s Tulip Time in our beautiful Skagit Valley Washington! After two years of pandemic woes, it is truly exciting that the annual Tulip Festival is once again in full bloom. Our valley will once more be welcoming thousands of visitors to come feast their eyes...

As an author of historical fiction, specifically dealing with World War I and World War II, it is shocking to realize that countries are still engaging in unprovoked and premeditated war.  That Russia has invaded Ukraine, an independent and sovereign nation,...

May this first newsletter of 2022 find you warm, safe, healthy, and ready to usher in a 2022 filled with hope! Brrr! We have had quite the winter here with as much as a foot or two of snow blanketing much of Western Washington. We had a white Christmas, only the fifth...

October flew in on windy days and welcomed in November before we knew it. I think time has passed so quickly because we have been focused on the arrival of our new family member. Meet Mandy, our 12-week-old German Shorthair puppy. She is a darling with much energy and...

Fall is certainly in the air here in the Pacific Northwest! We have had very little rain over the summer and the trees are rapidly changing to reds and oranges. The gardens, both flowering and vegetable, are tucking themselves in for the winter’s rest Adventures in...

During this time of renewal and reawakening after a year of solitude, I am excited and eager to get back in touch in so many ways with those I know and would love to know. I will be writing a post each month and sending it out as an e-mail to whomever would like to...

Although the phrase, "It takes a village" has been around for a while, it doesn't make it any less true.  This is certainly the case when you indy- publish.  You must surround yourself with people you trust and whose expertise you admire as you develop your publishing...

Last Sunday evening, two friends and myself had the pleasure of listening to Anne Lamont.  Anne, a gifted and prolific writer, shared her words of wisdom (doused with a generous dose of humor) to a sold out audience at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.  She talked about...

March is National Women's History Month.  This Thursday, March 22 at 4:30 pm, I'll be part of a three-author panel at the lovely Seaport Books in La Conner, WA, discussing the significance of telling history through the experiences, eyes and voices of women.  I am...

  While I am researching and writing my next historical novel, I find that ideas for short stories continue to come to mind.  This usually occurs shortly after I wake up (sometimes I dream the stories). If I  take the time then and there, in that early morning...

Yesterday I spoke to at a group of middle school students at a Young Authors' Forum. They were eager to hear and discuss the many aspects of writing, at least as many as could be covered quickly in an hour. They were in their classroom in an environment in which they...

 Thinking of all things French and Valentines today, I looked at the history of this day of love.  Many countries claim Valentine's Day began in their realm.  Most likely, long ago during the Middle Ages, Valentine's Day replaced a Pagan festival day of fertility, The...

Updating my website and would so appreciate it if interested friends and family would take a look and provide feedback. Is the font large enough, are the colors pleasing, does the placement of the buttons, headers and sidebars seem logical? Is the site easy to move...

They say that the process of writing, putting words to print, is a solitary business and it is certainly a crazy business. Or rather, crazy making! I had planned for my next book to follow in proper time sequence after book two. Book two, "The Passage Home to Meuse"...

With the September 2017, publication of my second book, "The Passage Home to Meuse” and having completed revisions and release of the second edition of the first book, "The Lavender House in Meuse", it is time now to look ahead to the next book.  That means research,...

This past Saturday I participated in a creativity workshop in LaConner, WA.  Sixteen women -  poets, novelists, playwrights, painters, actors, an astrologist, and others, gathered for the day to discuss the aspects of creativity and to focus on expanding and utilizing...

While we in the United States celebrated our Memorial Day this weekend, there were ceremonies throughout the world commemorating the lives lost by our United States military while supporting our allies in armed conflicts. In Verdun, France this past Sunday, French...

The manuscript for my second novel is now in the skilled hands of my publisher.  She will do a first read, we will edit and then send the manuscript on for final edits.  I very much enjoy the editing process as it is very instructive and facilitates the creative...

Have you noticed that the bees are back beginning their months of tireless work gathering nectar for their honeycombs?  In doing research for my first book, it was fascinating to learn that evidence of the domestication of bees is depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics as...

The lavender in my gardens is preparing to bloom. The chubby yellow and black bumblebees are flying around the lavender bushes impatient to gather its nectar. The honey bees as well flit from the pansies to snap dragons and then land on the still-closed blooms of the...

This Friday I'm headed to Dallas to visit my mother and sister Kathy and her family.  You may recall that Kathy illustrated the beautiful covers for my book, "The Lavender House in Meuse".  Last time I visited, Kathy and I spent many wonderful hours collaborating on...

Since the beginning of this new year, I began to journal everything I did each day related to my writing.  I also established quite a stringent writing schedule if I hoped to make my April 1 deadline of submitting to my publisher the manuscript of my next book.  To...

This week I have been researching the role that thousands of dedicated Sikh solders from India played as they fought alongside solders from France and England in WW1.  I have been looking at pictures of the Sikh solders marching in formation, lining the trenches and...

Martin Luther King Day prompts us to not only remember this great man of peace but to pause and ask ourselves about our own efforts towards reconciliation. On this date, Jan. 18, 1919, delegates of many countries convened in France to begin a peace conference in hopes...

This morning I have been exploring the blog posts of other authors and their comments about the new year as it relates to their writing. Some feel energized to begin anew and committing to so many pages a week or starting that new chapter or story. I felt energized...

The Bellingham Holiday Book Festival is this Thursday, Dec. 10 from noon - 8pm at the Bellingham Cruse Terminal. I'll be there along with 26 other Pacific NW authors and illustrators. A great place to find great reads for Holiday gifts for children and adults as well...

This Friday 12/4 from 6pm-9pm in Anacortes, WA, the beautiful town on the bay, will be hosting their December Gallery Walk in conjunction with the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce Holiday Art Walk. I am privileged to be one of the authors that will be at the Watermark...

Today, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day here in the United States and Armistice Day in France. This day in 1918, in the town of Compiegne in northern France, the armistice treaty was signed ending World War I. More than 15 million people lost their lives in that "war to end...

As my husband Terry and I walked along the banks of the Meuse River crossing all the very old bridges we came upon and crossing back again at the next one, Terry's shoe caught on something in the dirt.  He stopped and scuffed up the dry soil with the toe of his shoe. ...

We spent our last two days in France in the port city of Marseille. Marseille is the 2nd largest city in France, has the 3rd largest deep water port and is home to a multi-cultural population and 70 consulates. Marseille was settled in approximately 600 BC. There are...