Originally Posted On 2/5/13 Over the years I’ve taken a middle-of-the-road approach to critique groups. I waffled. I tried to see and accept opinions that I didn’t entirely agree with. And now I give up. You need a critique group before you publish. When you make the choice to move…
All right, I admit that this is an odd thing to post in August when Alaska is in the middle of summer, but I’m scheduling these posts in advance and I really can’t justify *not* sharing these winter photos with you. Alaska has the prettiest winters I’ve ever seen. I…
Originally Posted 1/17/13 Forgive my abuse of beautiful Jane Austen quote, but it is the truth. Every bestseller out there that I’ve read (which does exclude a few with sparkling undead and men named Grey) have subplots. Think Dresden, LOTR, Price of the Stars, Lost Fleet, or any of the…
An entire post of animals and plants in the Pacific Northwest? You betchya! Sometimes you just need to stop and smell the sting bugs.
About 15 miles south of Anchorage there’s a pull out off the Seward Highway where you can mark next to some uninspiring rocks. At first glance it looks like a great place for train spotting (please stay off the tracks!) and not much else. The secret to the rocks is…
Originally Posted On 6/10/14 ETA – I originally wrote this and published it while I was still a very young author. Additions are in bold. Liana,I sent my first story out in February and now I have my first rejection. What am I supposed to do with it?– Rejected and…
North of Anchorage, Palmer, and Wasilla is a pass through the Talkeetna Mountains named after prospector Robert Hatcher. During late spring and early summer this is a gorgeous place to visit and see the true grandeur of the Alaskan mountains. Majestic mountains. Glacier-carved valleys. Homemade ice cream at the little…
Is it cheating to do an entire post devoted to sunsets and sunrises? Yes. Probably. But I don’t care. There are gorgeous skies in the Pacific Northwest and you deserve something beautiful in your life today.
Back in 2011 Corina Lawson published the original list of reasons children could reasonably interrupt a writing mother (or father). I love that list. It’s cute, and funny, and spot on. Nothing short a full zombie apocalypse should interrupt an author on a deadline. However, some of the jokes were…
Happy Canada Day! Back in 2017 my family drove down the AlCan (Alaska-Canada) Highway as we moved to Seattle. We were lucky enough to be in Canada for the 150th birthday celebration and it was a blast! Not only is Canada beautiful (and I can say all of it because…