Grateful to Be Alive

This morning, I’m posting a chapter from By the Fright of the Silvery Moon, when Ned was thankful to just be alive. Chapter 5 The next day passed peacefully. I kept an eye out for questionable people, invited Pat and Jackie over and stayed close to home. It wasn’t that I was scared or intimidated; […]

June Bugs and Fireflies

June Bugs and Fireflies

Are you a June Bug? If you’re one of those lucky people born this month, you’ve got a lot of good things going for you. First, there’s your birthstone–you have two of them! The pearl and the Alexandrite are yours. Flowers? Also two–the rose and the honeysuckle. So, you’re bright and shiny, have infinite value, […]

The Staying Barn

One spring day many years ago, a farmer decided to build a fine log barn. First, he gathered large stones. He chipped and fitted them together for a firm foundation. The farmer cut many trees, chopped off limbs, and smoothed the trunks. Notch and groove, groove and notch, the logs rose straight and true atop […]

What’s Your Favorite?

To the authors who read my blog: As you write your new book, do you find that you have some chapters you prefer to other chapters? To the readers who read my blog: As you read a cozy mystery, are there chapters that stand out to you? And then, of course, there are favorite parts within each chapter. […]

Don’t Rock the Boat!

Don’t Rock the Boat!

Do you ever feel like you’re in a boat, trying to make a safe harbor? “Don’t rock the boat” is a saying most of us have heard or used, meaning to just go along with the status quo, don’t say or do anything that might ruffle the waters. At times, this may be a wise […]

Characters and Time

Characters and Time

At one of our critiques, a few years back, I mentioned to my friends gathered around the table that I should start a third mystery series starring them, the Cozy Critters! Everybody liked that idea and started choosing names for themselves and cautioning me not to kill them off in my book. “Well, why not?” […]