On Writing
The Comeback of the American Bald Eagle
Telling me about a presentation she gave on eagles, my 9-year-old granddaughter asked: “Did you know Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey was better than the eagle?” From the tone of her voice, that was the stupidest suggestion to come out of one of America’s founding...
Where Do Writers Get Their Crazy Ideas?
My work is not autobiographical, but many of my ideas sprout from my memories and experiences. I like to take a pinch of personal experience and stretch it like taffy—to make a point or to bring a scene to life. For example, in Up There, heroine Ariel Lee moves to the...
“We Can’t Recycle Our Way Out of This Mess”
"Once upon a time there were trees and birds and polar bears. But that time is long gone." This is NOT how I want to start a story for my grandchildren. That is why in my last two books—Crow Calling and Up There—I have talked about the environment. In Crow Calling, I...
Perspective According to Andrew Wyeth and My Grandson
When you write a book about an extraordinary woman in an ordinary world, you think a lot about perspective. I think about perspective because of artist Andrew Wyeth, who is an expert in changing our perspectives, and my three-year-old grandson, who is an expert in...
Up There: Born with the Gift of Flight
"What I did on my summer vacation" has been replaced with "What I did during the pandemic." Some writers couldn't concentrate on their craft during the lockdowns, the shortages (I am still stockpiling toilet paper), and the warnings to mask. I, on the other hand,...
Why We Love Amateur Detectives
Not all detectives in fiction are cops. In a world of Hercule Poirot, there is room for wonderful amateur sleuths: yoga teachers, Egyptologists, ministers.
Why I Became an Indie Author
You can call us self-published. You can call us indie authors. You can call us rebels. I think I have had indie blood in me long before I watched Easy Rider and bought my first suede leather fringe jacket.
Maudie: A Romance with Art
Maudie is a quiet yet moving film about Canada’s most famous folk artist. Meet the inspiration for the artist in my book Maud’s House.
How Yoga and Patanjali Can Help Your Writing
The Yoga Sutras are guides for living a right life, but I have found they also offer new perspectives on writing.
5 Steps to a Great Book Cover
Book covers are marketing tools. They sell books. How do you create eye-catching covers? Here are a few tips.
Where Ideas Come From: A Lesson from O. Henry
Unlike O. Henry, most of us are not short story factories. But we can learn a lot from looking at how this famous writer approached storytelling.
Surviving Book Awards
There are many book award programs. Should you enter them? Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at book awards.