Hi there happy reader,

I flew out to LA last Friday to experience a fun Halloween with my older grandson (assistant #1, lol!) who turns three this February. This holiday seems to bring out the creatives… I saw some awesome costumes!

It’s always interesting to see how young children react to different things. 

My grandson loved wearing his costume… for a bit. He did love getting candy (not so interested in eating it, just collecting it!) and running around with his friends.

But the blow-up costumes scared him, as did the mechanical rat on his neighbor’s porch. Honestly, I’m not sure why this neighbor thought it was a good idea to put a scary, screeching rodent out on a block filled with young children, but… to each his own, I guess. Every morning since Halloween, my grandson has checked the front window to make sure the offensive decoration is still gone. Happily, it is!

And now we move on…

I don’t know about you, but I love Thanksgiving. 

We always host a large blow-out feast. As our own children have grown up, so have our nieces and nephews, so they bring their significant others and it’s a lot of fun! I’ve begun to make my shopping list, have ordered a turkey and am planning what I’m going to bake. What about you? What does your family do on this festive holiday?

I’m also celebrating the month of November with a writing challenge. 

I’m trying my best to complete the final draft of my work-in-progress, “Below the Horizon” in the next thirty days. It’s a concentrated effort to get the last part of this story told. And once I do, I’ll be sharing it here with you first!

I’m not the only one doing this very thing. Many of my author friends have designated this month as the time to head into their offices to write. We have a friendly competition in the works, and I’m here to come out on top!

That’s it for now because I have a few more chapters to write. I hope you’re enjoying some glorious fall weather in your part of the world. As the nights get longer, it’s time to curl up with a good book and read… take the time to escape into the mind of your favorite author – you won’t be sorry!

Hey there happy reader!

Tomorrow is Halloween, one of my favorite days of the year!

I’m ready for those adorable trick-or-treaters… 

I’m lucky enough to live in a neighborhood full of children. When school’s out, the fun begins. I think that one of the major perks of childhood is going out to find your favorite candy on your walk in the brisk autumn air, costume on, pretending to be someone else – your favorite superhero, the animal of your choice, or my usual go-to as a kid – a gypsy!

This year I’ll be trick-or-treating in Los Angeles with my assistant #1. 

He’s going to be dressed as an airplane… he does love to fly! I will be accompanying him dressed as a flight attendant, lol. His neighborhood shuts down the streets to traffic and loads of kids come out. There’s an actual committee that provides the candy and surprises, and since lots of parents there are in the entertainment industry, the costumes tend to be very creative.

Plus, you never know who you’re going to see… lots of celebrities live nearby and often can be found with their own children, going door to door for the fun of it. I’m sure a good time will be had by all!

The concept of wearing a costume goes back to when people believed that ghosts would appear on October 31st, and that dressing up would chase the spirits away. 

I don’t know just how scary multiple Elmos and airplanes are – the outfits my young grandsons will be dressed in this year – but the tradition has most certainly endured. All I can say is bring on the pumpkin spice!

More seriously, though, as a writer, I can truly relate to the idea of wearing a costume. Authors need to get inside our character’s skin, creating a persona that we hope feels real to our readers.

We wear a lot of different hats while writing a novel – those of the protagonists, the minor characters, the heroes, the villains – all these “people” need to feel authentic for a book to resonate.

Maybe that’s why I love Halloween so much… on that one day a year, anyone pretending to be someone else is doing that exact thing, if only for a few hours. When I’m writing, I tend to jump into the mind of my characters. I hear their voices, I understand their worries, I walk in their shoes. It’s a transformative experience!

I do hope that you’ll greet your trick-or-treaters with the same joy that they display by wearing their costumes and carrying those bags for candy.

What details are needed to keep us turning the page? That’s the question of the week!

Hey there happy reader!

Are you a member of a book club? I am. Sometimes we read a book that doesn’t really move me, and other times we choose a title that I can’t put down…

Marie Benedict’s wonderful historical novel is one of those stories that seems unlikely to be real, but it is! 

It’s this talented author’s imagining of the truth behind the life of actress Hedy Lamarr. An Austrian immigrant, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, but more importantly, she was a genius inventor and the creator of the origins of both WiFi and GPS.

Guilt-ridden for having escaped an abusive marriage and Hitler’s grasp, Hedy came up with a way to make torpedoes able to hop between frequencies, eluding the enemy. Considered a great beauty, Hedy is thought to have been the model for Disney’s “Snow White.” But more importantly to me, Hedy was my father’s favorite actress. As a child, I thought it was because she was so beautiful, but as an adult, I realize it was because she rose up to fight against the Nazis. A Holocaust survivor himself, my dad enjoyed any story where the Nazi regime was defeated…

In reading this book, I was struck by the small details the author offers that help to make it compelling – the ring of sweat left behind from ice melting in a glass, the various pots of make-up scattered on an actress’s dressing table, the powdery scent of a newborn’s neck – nothing earth shattering, yet these small descriptions add up to draw a vivid picture in the mind of the reader.

That’s what I’m trying to accomplish in my work-in-progress, “Below the Horizon.” 

From the smell of the firepits and the food cooked over the open flames, to the crowded marketplace with its colorful wares, to the details of the jewels worn by my protagonist Maya, I’m hoping to transport you to a place that lives very far in the past.

And while no one can be totally sure what happened there, or why the people who lived around this neolithic structure disappeared, we can imagine it. Luckily for me, I happen to have a very vivid imagination!

I’m just at the point in the story where it all comes together – the protagonist living today, Miriam, is just about to find a link to draw her into Maya’s world. It’s exciting, and I need to get back to it! I leave you with this thought…how well do you know your family’s history? How far back can you trace your roots? In my latest historical novel, the past greatly influences the present…

Hey there happy reader!

It’s officially pumpkin spice season and I’m so happy! I’ve pulled out my sweatshirts and sweaters and tucked away my bathing suits and cover-ups! I love making myself a cup of tea in the afternoon and just kicking back with a good book!

I’m a huge fan of apple-picking, apple cider donuts, apple crumble, and anything apple themed. 

Being in a fragrant orchard in the warm sunshine on my face is one of my favorite things…

Here’s my assistant #2 choosing his pumpkin! He’s inherited the love of autumn as well!

In other news, here’s a little insight into my author life… 

While I’m writing fiction, I tend to read non-fiction (I never want to inadvertently copy another writer’s style!)

I was excited to see that Shonda Rhimes – yes, the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and Netflix’s “Bridgerton” has updated her popular memoir. 

I read the original version of this just at the point when I decided to try my hand at writing a novel, and the result was, “The Lyric of Memory.”

Shonda Rhimes’ book had a real impact on me. The concept of always saying “yes” instead of not taking a chance on something new and exciting was motivating – so much so that I wrote and published my first book!

I feel like I’ve come a long way from there, sitting at my kitchen table secretly writing a story about two people who can’t live together or live apart from one another. Best decision I ever made…

And as you know by now, I’ve joined the author list at Vinci Books. Here’s their updated cover of “The Lyric of Memory:”

I love it and I hope you do too! 

I think it captures the turbulent relationship exposed within its pages, with a wistful and romantic starry sky above. We’re creeping ever so slowly (it seems) toward Vinci’s publishing of all my titles… I can’t wait!

I hope that you’ll look at what Shonda Rhimes has to say and apply it to your own life. I can attest to the method she describes. Who knows? It just might change everything!

Hey there happy reader!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’ve become a “hybrid” author. Still an indie, my backlist has been acquired by Vinci Books. They’re a London-based publisher who plucked me out of a large pool of authors and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m still an indie author – I get to choose what I write, and I work at my own pace – but I now have the backing of a publishing house that can advertise in a bigger way than I ever could!

This wasn’t an easy decision for me. I am most definitely a type A personality. 

I like control, especially with my work. But when Jane Harris, the publisher of Vinci, explained that I could have full creative freedom plus the ability to contribute my thoughts on new cover art and their marketing plans, I jumped in — and I’m so glad that I did. (Check me out on their author page!)

Most of the new covers are there as well – I especially love the one for “The Lyric of Memory!” They’re still working on “The Woodcarver’s Secret” and “Question Everything,” but if those turn out as well as the ones you can currently see, I’ll be one happy author!

But even more than the new cover art, being with Vinci frees me from doing my own advertising – which I was never any good at! 

They are testing some Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon campaigns right now, so don’t be surprised if you find one coming across your feed. And from their end to mine, it’s all transparent – I can track my sales and pages read using an app called “Publisher Champ.”

I used to have to manually look at each platform to see the results of an ad campaign. Vinci has taken the grunt work upon themselves, allowing me to write more! I’m one very lucky author, and am deeply grateful for this new collaboration.

So, now even though I’m close to finishing “Below the Horizon,” I’m not in charge of getting a cover created for this thrilling book. However, once Vinci and I have the image we both feel represents this story best, I’ll post it here first…

And speaking of new images, I’m thinking about letting my hair go grey! This is an AI produced photo of what I might look like…(I guess AI has some uses after all, lol!). What do you think? Should I do it??