My Blog

Creating a Complex Character

Photo by Michelle Cassar on Unsplash Many times I’m asked, “How do you come up with your characters?” I explain that I go through several steps – which I will walk through in this post. While most characters pop into my head as either an image or a name, that’s only a...

Snippets From the Past – April 20

Snippets from my five-year diary. April 20. *1970 (age 12): Got Report Cards – 2 C’s, 3 B-’s, 4 B’s, 3 B+’s; 3/2’s, 1/1-’s, 3/1’s; 1 day absent, 0 tardies. On back, Mrs. Allen said “Good Joan, much improvement here” As I mentioned before, grades were a big deal. I...

Author Spotlight – Annis Cassells

In celebration of National Poetry Month I’m chatting with poet/writer, Annis Cassells about her indie-published poetry collection, You Can’t Have It All. Congratulations, Annis! I’m so excited for you. Q: Please share your background (educational/where you grew up): I...

Snippets From the Past – April 16

Snippets from my five-year diary. April 16. *1970 (age 12): Hot Dog Day. I was mean to Bob so I didn’t get to have hot dogs. So what!!! First, if you’ve been following along, Hot Dog Day was a big deal to me. (Funny, because now I can’t stand to eat them!) Second,...

Snippets From The Past – April 15

Snippets from my five-year diary. April 15. *1970 (age 12): Vicki and I went bike riding to Safeway and Family Farmacy. Went to her house and at dinner over there. Love the way I spelled ‘Pharmacy.’ We used to ride bikes all over and Safeway and Family Pharmacy were...

Snippets From the Past – April 14

Snippets from my five-year diary. April 14. *1970 (age 12): Gym Day. Went on trampoline – fun. Went to Piano Class. On one page I got a racoon because I played excellently. I wasn’t fond of the trampoline, but I guess that day’s experience was much better. The...