Yesterday, we got underway. Spring weather forecasts led us to avoid the planned trip across Boston Harbor from Lynn to Hull, only to prove as insufficient for planning as if we’d gone for a tarot reading. Long tacks north and south got us east to Gloucester, a sufficiently salty town for our feelings of excitement […]
About to start up my computer
Me and Beluga are so cozy, but it’s time to write!
Almost not quite
I’ve got erotica…gloves…and penetrating catalyst… Wait! Wrong lube!
Writing and publishing in 2020
I started 2020 on a bit of a sabbatical. James and I flew to India, back to a place we’d been before, in order to rewrite the book draft we’d completed on our last stay. Indoor Boh is a much-reworked crime caper with getaway by bike and boat but, at this point, it is still […]
Writing from Empathy
A friend (hi, Robin!) asked my opinion on a keynote speech delivered at the Brisbane Writers Festival. Lionel Shriver spent her podium time excoriating identity politics and the chilling effect she perceives as its aim and effect for writers of fiction. In an exercise that would surely encourage her to pull out her hair, I’ll […]
Heart of the Lilikoʻi’s Cover
When I thought of an image to represent Heart of the Lilikoʻi, I imagined the west side of the Island of Hawaiʻi. Unlike the lush jungle of the Hilo side, the Kona side is dry down by the water. It’s a black rubble desert, except for the small plants, so green it hurts the eye, […]
Lysistrata Cove: First Draft Finished
I just finished a first draft in 11 days. And I’m not even exhausted! The complete first draft of Lysistrata Cove represents a change in my understanding of novel-writing. After two books that took me years to write and edit, I know now that I’m, first and foremost, telling a story, and that I work […]
Sailing Life
It’s no coincidence that my first book was about a woman who wants to sail away. I bought my first boat at 23 years old and left Seattle the next year. Starting in 1999 my life became one of traveling until I couldn’t anymore and then working until I could travel again. A few years […]
I Love Genre
I am a genre writer, when it comes right down to it. I like beats. I like pulses and plans and fulfilling the expectations I create. Whether it’s romance or SF, I like having an agreement with the reader and working within that to surprise and delight them. Fortunately, I know that doesn’t mean being […]
49 Copies of Blue Water Dreams in US and UK Libraries
I started reading young and never stopped. My dad fed me science fiction at what he considered an age-appropriate pace; I pulled random books from his shelves and got an accelerated education. My school librarians learned to introduce me to series because I read so much and so quickly that I would be a pest […]