The argument begins like this… “When you write intricate plots, you always have to change things and rewrite and it’s hard to just write that story straight through.” “Not for me,” says the irritating pantser who goes from start to finish. You’ve probably guessed I’m not a pantser, but a planner. While I do allow creative things to take over, and do embrace that happy accident that solves a plotting problem, I am, at the heart of it all, a technical writer. I’m also whole-brain, and often my right brain and left brain are embroiled in hand-to-hand combat. While those …Continue reading →
You might find your car dying on the freeway while other vehicles around you lose control and crash. You might see the lights going out in your city, or glimpse an airplane falling out of the sky. You’ve been in a blackout before but this one is different. In critical facilities across the country, experts predict that it is only a matter of time before the electrical infrastructure holding society together undergoes catastrophic failure. According to the most recent report of the United States Congressional Commission appointed to assess the risk, published July 2017, we face the threat of ‘long-lasting …Continue reading →
NEW RELEASE, May 2019! Steve 5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning! May 19, 2019 “WOW! I am so glad I got to read this book. Fantastic storyline and great characters. It is my opinion that this book /series would be a great movie. A must read.” November, 2022. The U.S. power grid is taken down. Franny Sullivan-Sky is on the road, trying to find the daughter lost to her for sixteen years. She and her partner Jack are following the best lead they’ve had, when the grid goes down. But no matter how dangerous it is, Franny cannot turn back …Continue reading →
Thoughts on my current post-apocalyptic novel. Available May 2019 My paranoia began with the trump administration. Many Americans felt immediately in peril when that dangerous orange buffoon stole the election. I had heard the buzzword infrastructure, and warnings about how it was failing, but until the last few years, I wasn’t even sure what infrastructure really was. I thought it just meant roads and bridges. When I learned that it also included, most crucially, our utility/electrical grids, and then when there were reports that Russian hackers had infiltrated our grid and were just perched there, able to attack at any …Continue reading →
Every day, now, I fight the urge to flee to wilderness, and hide until all this is over, one way or another. Election night, 2016, was devastating. It was like that carnival ride where you spin around and the floor drops out from under you. Since then, I’ve developed all sorts of health issues, including a depression I couldn’t shake. I finally had to take medication for that. Since the election, I’ve developed an interest in survival skills, in keeping a go-bag and emergency supplies “just in case.” Now, I’m not a full-fledged prepper, but I am a survivor, and …Continue reading →
Jumping from the idea of power, directly into a powerful position, is often the seedling that overgrows into a sort of Kudzu of Corruption. All due respect, Mr A, this is not your A-game.
I think I just might be in love with KB Draper’s writing. Dramedy is difficult to pull off, but so is this genre of adventure-comedy, which I would call “Adventurdy.” Since I am both a reader and a writer, I have two categories in which to sing her praises. First, as a reader: Spirits Smirits is immediately engaging, laugh out loud funny, and a happy circus of quirky humans, clever monsters and universal themes that will have you on tenterhooks drying out after feeling you have experienced everything right along with the main character. And that main character is a …Continue reading →
I’ve always believed that every ill in our society falls under one or more of three categories: Greed, Ignorance or Zealotry. I was faced with an example of one or more of these while updating my author page on Goodreads. I came across a negative review, quite by accident, of one of my earlier books. Against my better judgment, I read it, and was horrified. The reviewer, obviously, did not like my book, and that’s fine, in and of itself, but this reviewer made statements that were patently false. She claimed the character in my book was “helping a pedophile.” …Continue reading →
This blog is from both of Us. My words in black, Melissa’s in red. So, here’s a funny thing…I guess you could say it’s WHAT HAPPENED. We preordered– SHE preordered. Though I won’t complain. …Hillary’s book, expected it on the 14th, but this morning it still wasn’t in the mailbox… (our morning starts about 3pm these days). I’m about to send Amazon a snarky note– Then it hits me, I say, “Oh!” and me and my birthday-suit jump out of bed and jiggle down the hall to the foyer… I do so enjoy the fact that she sleeps au naturel. …where there is …Continue reading →
Today, I had a dentist appointment, to get a tooth pulled and cavities filled. That’s what I get for avoiding dentists for–what? 15 years? I’ve been fortunate, since I have always enjoyed healthy teeth, but I should have gone to a few of those appointments along the way. I accept the mantel of shame in that regard. We had to go to Springfield, so we didn’t get home until evening. When I laid back in the awesome Chair-I-Wish-I-Had-at-Home, It soon became apparent that they were not sure why I was there. Seems the VA had not sent over the records of the checkup …Continue reading →
Most of my adult life, I’ve wanted a full-sized female mannequin posted in my foyer. Not just for comedic value. For practicality. I’m very utilitarian. I figured I could use her to hold the stuff I need by the door. She could wear my hat, hold my keys, my bag, my jacket– either wearing it or draped over one stiff arm. Or I imagined I could just put her in the house somewhere and dress her up in different outfits. Since my wife and I are always talking about our future life on the road in a travel trailer, throwing …Continue reading →
How delicious. To be someone else. To reinvent oneself. I’m not talking about who you are at your core, but about characteristics that might not be serving you anymore. I’ve done it several times over, and not only with names. As long ago as my early twenties, I began referring to myself and introducing myself to others by another name. Eventually, it led me to legally change it. Psychologically, that was one of the best decisions I ever made for my health. I maintain that the name-change wasn’t running AWAY from something, but running TO. Seeking identity. I wanted to …Continue reading →
Excerpt from Run the Risk #WIP After the death of her estranged father, a beleaguered attorney named Sierra Kipling returns to her hometown of Shamrock Cove, Rhode Island, having inherited his bar, The Risk. A much-younger town doctor, Kelsi Belmar, doesn’t know quite what to think of this 50-year-old prodigal daughter, but she intends to find out. 2} Kelsi The door had been left open to let in an Atlantic breeze. Welcomed, in the bar that had no air conditioning. The low-riding sunlight dimmed, and I turned. The light had been cut by the shadow in the doorway. As she …Continue reading →
We provide two types of licensing: One Time Use and Extended. Our standard One Time Use license permits you to use the purchased media in one design through the terms described below. Our Extended license expands on the One Time Use license to increase both the types and quantities of reproductions permitted, namely the ability to use our media in items that are meant for resale. Our One Time Use License Subject to the restrictions described under Prohibited Uses below, the following are ‘Permitted Uses’ of media purchased from us: invitations, advertising and promotional projects, including printed materials, product packaging, presentations, …Continue reading →
