Ever felt strangled by legalese?  Ready Monday’s blog.

Beginning in mid-May I go on on “virtual” tour with “Gothic Spring” from the comfort of my home! Isn’t technology grand? This online effort is staged by Nurure Virtual Book Tourz. Here’s a link with tour dates:  http://nurtureyourbooks.com/vbtblog/

It’s exciting and a little humbling to know when you connect in a meaningful way. That’s my feeling after learning my blog post from April 4 is featured prominently in the emagazine “Oregon Womens Report.” Here’s the link: The words we use when people pas

WHEN MEMORY FAILS, THE WRITTEN WORD REMEMBERS If the memory of our personal histories fail in the minds of others, sometimes our writings live on — if only at the bottom of an attic trunk.  That’s what Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” discovered when she c

JUST AN ORDINARY DAY Sunday, I decided to take a stroll to one of the local used bookstores in my area.  It’s a 50 minute walk round trip and as the previous few days had brought nothing but rain, this warm, Sunday afternoon came as a relief. The washed blossoms of the plum tree ou

CARPE DIEM (seize the day) My alumni news magazine reported recently that two classmates from my under graduate days had died. They were my age, naturally, so I was brought up short.  75 is a respectable age for dying. Most of life’s experiences have been sampled: a career, marriag

OF MICE AND MEN As I write these words, I am in mourning for a mouse. In part, I blame my upbringing — all those childhood stories where animals behaved like people. Every month, when I was old enough to read, a comic book arrived  at my house filled with stories about a girl a

Book reviewer Alan Caruba added GOTHIC SPRING to his Picks of the Month for April. http://bookviewsbyalancaruba.blogspot.com/2012/03/bookviews-april-2012.html Alan is a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle. Thanks, Alan! Every good notice helps. GOTHIC SPRING has a new

WHEN WORDS FAIL On a warm afternoon, not long ago, I found myself near an Indian restaurant that perfumed with exotic aromas. I love Indian dishes but to my great sorrow, few of my friends do, so  I often find myself eating alone. Lunch on that day was no exception and as I’d spent

ALWAYS ON A SUNDAY For me, the “S” in Sunday stands for sloth; so after a breakfast of bananas and oatmeal, I remained in my fleecy robe and crossed into the living room to read. On the opposite wall, the computer screen glared accusingly.           “Shouldn’t you be