My Blog
Sharing my thoughts and providing real life stories for my readers to think about.
Picking up Where I Left Off – The Plague Saga
Last month, I revealed with much excitement that I resumed writing every day, beginning by editing a novel I’d started back in 2021. Yes, it had been more than three years since I looked at that manuscript—one of three yet-to-be-published manuscripts. In fact, I was...
Back to Basics
Thankfully, I have a full life with many blessings and much to be grateful for. I am truly never bored as I always have something to do or somewhere to go. In fact, I can no longer keep up with the numerous hobbies I collected over the years because I’ve replaced them...
Hypothetical Questions
Recently, a hypothetical question was posed to women on social media: Would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear? Although there was no unanimous answer, most of the women on sites like TikTok, Instagram and X responded they’d prefer to be alone with...
May
Lots of things come to mind when I think of the month of May. Everything from May Day to Cinco de Mayo to Mother’s Day to Memorial Day. Yet, for the past 17 years, the first thing that comes to mind is my son’s birthday, May 8. My second thought is that he made me a...
Life is Short
In anticipation of a milestone birthday last October, I decided to start travelling internationally again; something I hadn’t done since COVID shut down the world in 2020. Because I enjoy travelling—and often do so on my own—I considered 2023 as my “travel year,”...
The New Laziness
One of my three yet-to-be published novels, simply titled A.I., is sitting—or rather rotting—in my computer, written three years ago when I was inspired by the thought of whether artificially intelligent creatures could mingle successfully with human society. Although...
Finding Authenticity on Social Media
Like most of you, I am ambivalent about social media. Most of the time it’s a love/hate relationship with both sides swinging wildly to the extremes. At its worst, social media can be an abyss of vile hatred perpetrated by ideologs of all stripes and aimed at complete...
A Little Levity Goes a Long Way
The 18th anniversary of my father’s passing occurred last week, bringing up a lot of memories. Happy, sad and humorous. My dad was highly intelligent, sensitive, creative as well as extremely funny. Deadpan funny at times. Irreverently funny. Like the time he called...
Shady Salespeople 2.0
In May, I wrote about the annoying and unrelenting phone calls and texts I had been receiving from questionable salespeople supposedly representing “traditional publishers,” purportedly trying to lure me into a “contract” for “re-publishing” one of my books. At that...
Perfectionism to Mask Fear
Most people who know me would say I’m outgoing, exuding confidence in all I do. I beg to differ. Yes, I’ve developed confidence over a lifetime of various experiences, but I still think I’m naturally shy, holding my cards close to the vest, not wanting to divulge too...
There Are No Coincidences
For writing inspiration, I’ve always got my eyes and ears on high alert for new ideas, new characters, and unique plots. Often, I develop characters for my novels based on people from my past as well as from people I meet or come across during the day. But it’s the...
Connections
Staying connected with people is essential, both personally and professionally. As social beings, we need consistent personal interaction with each other to maintain our humanity. And I’m not referring to social media, but face-to-face encounters and/or phone calls....