And This is Why I Write This past Sunday, my daughter Amber and I were on our way to visit my sister Peggie when Amber asked if we could make a quick stop before crossing the bridge to Washington. She needed a different picture of a headstone for her genealogy study of our family. […]
Mother’s Day
As a mom, I can tell you about some wonderful Mother’s Days I have experienced. Sometimes my daughters would give me handmade cards and smooshy chocolate candy, or as they got older, steak dinners, fabulous vacations, airplane tickets to visit, and heartfelt words that would make me weep. I can also tell you about my mom’s […]
Writing a Dedication
When I finished writing my first book I read everything I could get my hands on concerning publishing my work. Some of it was very enlightening and some of it was daunting. In fact I swung from ‘Wow, this is great’ to ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ But, because I went into the first […]
To Camp or Not to Camp: Nano is the Answer
This morning as I was getting ready for work, I knocked over one of those ever present piles of ‘to read’ books that decorate my house. The one that caught my attention was a beautiful little Jane Austen 5 year journal. It seemed that even before I knew I was a writer my family and […]
Hair Raising Tales of Yesteryears
I was talking to my brothers last week mentioning my upcoming hair appointment at a local hair salon with Tammy Lea and got a wonderful story from each of them about an incident of ‘hair gone bad’ from years gone by. There was a barber shop on the other side of Western Ave that we […]
Schwab’s Dairy
Even in the dead of winter there is one treat that always appeals to me. Driving down University twice a day I have no choice but to pass a certain blue and white building with concrete benches and umbrella tables that remain up even in the snow. A changeable sign outside advertises the daily special […]
Growing up on Greenlawn
It was not the big yellow house with its imposing white columns, nor the fact that six children resided reasonably well (maybe not peacefully, but no one was murdered) within the massive structure, that was our claim to fame in our South Side neighborhood. Rather, it was the fact that we possessed a hitching post […]
Saturday Morning at the Writing Desk II
Saturday Morning at the Writing Desk -II. So, maybe now I have this figured out- sigh. Spent a leisurely morning that started at 5:31. Got up, fed the kitties, saved Amber a rotten start to the day by cleaning up cat puke sitting at the bottom of her stairs. It is a good thing I […]
Saturday Morning at the Writing Desk
Saturday morning at the…Writing desk. It’s been more than a year now since I ended my “Saturday Morning at the Library” posts, and that second job. Life is good, different, but very good. Yes, I still get up around 5:30 every Saturday to feed the kitties, potty the dog, get beautiful (still takes a crazy […]
Interview with Peoria Public Library
I sat down with Peoria Public Library to talk about my new book, Murder in the Library.
The Winner
Although winning the lottery had always been a dream of Marta’s she actually felt, even during her dreams that it would more likely be like the joke about the guy who prays every day to win the lottery. In the end God hits the guy with a lightening bolt and knocks him out of the […]