My Two Blessings

My introduction to Jack Reacher was reading 61 hours after hearing Lee Child speak at Bouchercon in 2010.  After finishing  the book, I had to find out what happened to Reacher and continued reading forward in the series.  Once I reached the end, finally decided to go back to the beginning to read the book that started it all - Killing Floor. Reacher finds himself in a big mess when he wanders in to a small town his brother had told him about, looking for history on a blind blues singer, Blind Blake.  Within minutes of sitting down to eat breakfast in the local dinner, he is arrested for murder and things snowball from there. Imagine small town politics, town tough guys masquerading as do gooders, horrific murders, as well as a blooming attraction with Roscoe, the only female police detective as Reacher attempts to prove himself innocent. Six months out of the military and he's tough and doesn't back down for anyone. There are plenty of twists and turns whi...

I'm currently reading Jordan Rosenfeld's A Writer's Guide to Persistence: How to create a Lasting and Productive Writing Practice.    Every year I find an inspirational book that lights a fire under me, spurs me on to continue writing. I have a tendency to let family and work demands, stress and worry, all life's obligations short me out. I read about the writers who write through thick and thin, like the postman who works no matter the weather, those who have been writing all their lives and I start comparing myself to others. The well dries up and I escape into a book, the internet, television avoiding the page. Which leads me back again to the question, "Why do I write?"   Probably because I get all crotchety and grumpy when all those thoughts, feelings, ideas, and characters are waiting in the back of my brain festering, wanting, needing to be expressed. Why do I resist instead of persist?  Then call it what you will - God or coincidence, synchro...

Circle of the Moon By Faith Hunter  Witches, vampires, bloodlust, Soulwood, love, pain, life, reading the land, vampire trees, and Occam...sigh!  Faith Hunter hits it out of the park again with her fourth installment in the Soulwood series. I read it once, way too quickly because I just had to know what happened. Then read it again, savoring, absorbing, melting into the story and experiencing the action along with Nell, Occam and the PsyLed team. Man against man as well as man against nature. Soulwood and the vampire tree are characters in their own right, with major roles just as complex as Nell or Occam or Rick. Circle of the Moon takes you on a whirlwind adventure with unexpected twist and turns which will keeping you reading long into the night.  Totally enjoyed it and going back on the shelf for a series reread.  If you haven't read anything by Faith Hunter yet, check out her website and the first book in her Jane Yellowrock , Soul...

Epiphany  Two things on your mind today. One says pay attention to life at all times. Eyes and ears and senses  open wide.  Another says it's all in your head,  Rule nothing out and spill it all. Fill up the page with your rage  and your fear and the blame.  A word becomes a sentence, a paragraph, a page.  And an idea is born with the  change of a name.  Fake people and places to  perplex and harass.   Cause a fuss, make them dream Give them purpose, create a scene.  Not true, says one character. You give us life to live.  None are you and you are all.  We live through you and you through us.  We breath, we eat, we love and experience the profound to the silly.  We delve into the deepest ocean of your mind  and pull out what we find. Tears and fears, imaginary and real. Firsts and lasts, life and death, Sweet and fierce, ...