It’s hard to believe that it’s been a week since I roamed Yellowstone Park with my 19-year-old son, Robin. Our trip was so much fun. We explored the country, had the opportunity to meet people I’d only met online, and see family. You can read about it in my last post. On that 6,496 mile trek, I learned a lot about my own writing and the Dragon Courage series.
Continue reading →Epic fantasy generally follows a specific plot pattern called the hero’s round. In this plot, the hero (or heroin) is called to an adventure. She leaves her doorstep and takes that first step on a journey that could change her world. These last two weeks, I have been on my own journey. I left home on Friday, July 28 with a Tetris style packing job in the back of my little Toyota Yaris. My son, Robin, was my traveling companion.
Continue reading →I may look like a hero, but I don’t have that soldier kind of courage. The battles I’ve fought are inside me. And they have been daunting. And maybe the greatest act of courage I’ve ever shown is the kind anyone can demonstrate—facing your greatest personal fear.
Continue reading →How many of us who are married really understood those vows on our wedding day? Did we truly realize that we were saying we’d stick with this other person until our dying days? If so, why then are one-third of the 2.3 million people being married each year being re-married? The same amount of people being married in the wedding season are on a second or third marriage!
Continue reading →I grew up reading different teen series books about close-knit friends, and I always wanted to be in that sort of group and have those friends who always had your back. So when I was in middle school, I created a story with a crew like that.
Continue reading →The term road trip gives off different inuendos. To the college age student, it’s the idea of carefree fun without a worry in the world. It may even include friends. For the retired couple, it implies a RV and sightseeing. But for families, the idea of a road trip can cause great distress. How can you survive the constant bickering, ‘are we there yet’s, and whining of a road trip with kids?
Continue reading →I’d love to invite you all to Camp Fircroft to spend a week “up the mountain”, but it might be a bit difficult for some of you to find your way to the Southern Oregon Coast. So, instead, I’ll tell you what makes a summer camp good.
Continue reading →Family, it’s a major theme in many movies and books. Often it’s the absence of family that creates the plot line–the orphan longing for a family, or the long-lost sibling. Family is something dear to my heart. It always has been.
Continue reading →I opened to chapter nine of Dragon’s Revenge and began to read of the men of the Carr. After a few pages, I found myself immersed in the land. The characters came alive in my mind. My voice adapted to their voices and accent. And that is when it happened. That Yizma moment. “Is this my book? Is this my book?”
Continue reading →I’ve often had my students create a brochure of their town as if it would go to the visitor’s center for Spanish speaking people who come through. Maybe one of these days, I’ll make the assignment actually get published for the visitor’s center. However, I’ve heard the complaints. “We don’t have anything special here.” “What’s the big deal about our town?” I can understand. We get lost in what we know. The everyday loses its appeal. But every town has something special.
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