A Shore Thing

DSC02536Is it just me, or is there something special about this time of year?  The days are still warm, but the nights are crisp and cool.  Routines are being established (or re-established), bedtimes are earlier, my favorite shows are coming back on TV, the holidays are just around the corner; here on the Shore, the crabs are fatter and tastier, and I could go on and on.  Spring might be the time that the world renews itself, but fall is my time to renew and reflect.  It’s when I start thinking about and writing my newest novel.  Truthfully, it’s when I do my best writing.  It’s when my head seems to be clearer, and my mind is ready to focus.  I think a lot of it has to do with the girls returning to school.  We are all ready to get back to business.  But there’s no question that a good part of it has to do with living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at this most beautiful time of year. Read more

Fall Musings

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While the calendar may show that it’s still summer, we all know that when school goes back into session, it is unofficially fall.  Soon the trees in my backyard will go from green to yellow to orange and then slowly fall to the ground.  As nature begins its long winter’s nap, my brain starts to wake up to a new year – a new school year full of hope and promise as well as a new year of writing!  While I do work at my craft over the summer, it is difficult to concentrate with three teenagers in the house needing to chauffeured to work, camps, friends’ homes, etc. and the general malaise that seems to set in when temperatures are high and work priorities are low.

Fall is a whole different story.  Once my oldest is settled into her dorm and my other two daughters are back in school all day, my house is quiet.  Imagine that!  A quiet house!  And my creative juices begin to flow.  With my first novel already in circulation, and my second one in what I call “phase three” (my crime experts are currently reading and editing it), I have already begun my storyboard for my third.  Now it’s time to get down to the actual writing, and I have just one minor snag – I can’t decide on the location!  So perhaps this fall will include a few day trips around my home state looking for the perfect setting –  an old farmhouse in the tranquil countryside in need of a little suspense.

In the meantime, I will let my mind drift to the other wonderful thing about fall – curling up in my favorite corner of the couch with a cup of hot tea and a good book while a fire blazes nearby.  What will you be reading this fall and winter?  A Place To Call Home is available, and every Wednesday, I will send you a thought or two about my writings and upcoming books.  Stay tuned and stay warm!

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