Not Good: Having to Explain Surcharge Postage to USPS
Of all the weeks for the United States Post Office to screw with my handcrafted cards, this was an infuriating doozy for which I am sorry to say was so frustrating that I lost sleep over it. A lot of sleep. Why? Because I don’t trust the USPS as it is to follow the US […]
This Author is Tired, Weirded Out, and Dare I Say It? Feeling Alienated
Last week’s post probably left the impression that I’d completely capitulated and was giving up on options other than self-publishing my newly revised second edition of Alienable Rights, first novel in my Other Worldly series. Not quite yet, though there’s been no positive reinforcement when it comes to the traditional publishing or small press publishing […]
Maintaining the Freedom to Write in a Book-Banning, Female-Bashing World
This week is Banned Book Week, taking place from October 4-10 with the official 2026 theme, “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” But I write today’s post from the perspective of also advocating for protecting the freedom to write. Because any time the subject of banned books arises, I become keenly aware that […]
GOP Gaslit Ads Raise Sociopathic Red Flag in New Mexico
Republican political ads here in southern New Mexico are chock full of gaslighting about what’s going on with the Republican Party and in the nation in general. Especially with one candidate in particular, Gregory G. Cunningham running for the US House of Representatives against our incumbent Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez. Gaslighting, for those who might […]
Remarkably Bright, Gratifying Movie
There’s so much nonsense going on I should write about now that we’re rapidly approaching early voting in New Mexico, and I probably will next month, including gobsmacking ridiculousness of local Republican ads. But on this first day of autumn, I’m determined to keep it positive. Helping me do that was a movie seen this […]
Why I Struggle With Selling. Which is Also Why Women Should Read My Novels.
Last week I read a Writer’s Digest online article that hit me in the solar plexus, given it was already a difficult time due to the 9/11 anniversary, an event that still holds a great deal of residual trauma for me with respect to the Pentagon in particular. This year, of course, it was compounded […]
Would We Treat Actual Aliens the Abysmal Way We Regard Immigrants Deemed Illegal?
On this Labor Day I ponder the way we in the US treat immigrant laborers, especially the hubris of labeling them “aliens,” much less “illegal.” Our nation and its highly flawed mechanisms for dealing with immigration have a long way to go. Because we’re going backward as opposed to forward when it comes to the […]
Almost Time to Claw My Way Up the Traditional Publishing Tree
As August draws to a close in the waning days of summer, I’m watching four kittens frolic in my yard, clawing their way up tree trunks for the first time and treating my pool loungers like a jungle gym. And I myself am preparing for a new challenge come September in my fiction writing endeavor […]
Roswell, New Mexico TV Show Pulls No Political Punches
Watching initial episodes of Roswell, New Mexico from 2019 on Netflix this week was at startling as rereading my first two Other Worldly novels published in 2020, Alienable Rights and Feeling Alienated, and being utterly confused. Wait, what? Aren’t these atrocities against humanity committed by ICE and other unidentifiable thugs exactly what’s happening right now […]
Selfish Humans Can’t Seem to Comprehend: It’s Their Habitat Too
“I didn’t exactly choose the ‘I prefer animals over people’ lifestyle. I just met enough people to realize the animals were winning.” This meme from social media pretty much sums up the past few months of my semi-rural life in southern New Mexico, not to mention it’s an ongoing theme woven throughout my Other Worldly […]