I see, I listen, I think. Therefore, I write.
In the film Babette’s Feast, a highly-gifted chef schooled in cooking as high art escapes war-torn Paris. She finds herself living in gentle servitude to two good and pious but dour, nearly joyless, sisters. With no inkling who Babette is, … Continued
Quai des Grands Augustins teems with people on this cool but sunny May day in 2004. Often, you can’t get to the end of this Quai without bumping shoulders with other giddy tourists. This stretch on the left bank has … Continued
Don’t you just love, get exasperated, get thrilled, even occasionally feel depressed at book reviews of your beloved creation? You pause, wallow in the feeling, and then, you tell yourself it’s as much about the readers as it is about … Continued
My niece—the only one I have—sent me a letter. Yes, a letter, with words in black ink that she packed tight on a card. Rarely will you receive letters like this, anymore. Or, at least, rarely have I. Emails are … Continued
I am a relatively unknown author at a time when all the numbers are against me. Of all the millions of books on Amazon, with more than 300,000 new releases every year in the US alone, why would anyone pick … Continued
I nearly zapped a historical romance out of my iPad in exasperation, while reading it one evening. Not because it was badly written. Nor was it boring. Rather, it annoyed me that for the umpteenth time, the author describes her … Continued
Do you think of writing as art? Or a task with a set of rules you must follow? Many writers believe both are true and allow both approaches to guide their writing. Both have their uses but a bias for … Continued
Do you remember when Hillary Clinton had to give out her cookie recipe to show everyone she’s an ordinary housewife, when her lesser half first ran for president? Well, Ms. Clinton isn’t ordinary and if the cookie recipe was actually … Continued
Margaret of the North, the first novel I published, is a historical novel. It’s a sequel to Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, a much loved classic, at least in its form as a BBC miniseries. Why write a sequel? I … Continued
Romance novels are escapist fare. We read them to be entertained. Or to have a few delicious moments of tingling. Is it a contradiction, then, to inject realism in romance novels? Someone more in the know than I told me … Continued
Words. We’re inundated with them. From friends and loved ones. From strangers. From the constant assault of media. And from words that churn around in our heads—as they do a lot in writers. Or in some people afflicted with … Continued
Inside, the terminal was bouncing. That was the only way Leilani could describe it. Greeters jumped and shrieked their welcome at arrivals they had not seen in a while. Children squealed as they played, running through throngs of people. She … Continued
Self Publishing Review honored me with a Bronze Author Award last week, citing my writing as the main criterion for which they picked me as one of their three awardees for the 2015 SPR Independent Woman Author Awards. Here’s what … Continued
On two consecutive Fridays in June, I ran kdp free days for Hello, My Love! (HML), Book 1, and Welcome Reluctant Stranger! (WRS), Book 3, of my series, Between Two Worlds. I meant to test a couple of my suspicions. … Continued
I’ve lived in different places. Born in some far-flung place, educated at universities in the US West and Mid-west, and currently residing in multicultural San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve also “lived” a few months at a time in Paris (several … Continued