The High Cost of Writing
I recently read an ugly post on Twitter. A guy gloating about how he sure screwed Amazon by searching far and wide so he wouldn’t have to pay full price. Instead, he found the book he so fervently sought on another site, secondhand and cut-rate. I don’t know if they charged him for shipping, but […]
Language of Literacy: Expectations and Lamentations
In Feeling Alienated, protagonist Rowan Layne laments on social media regarding tweets spewing from a vile and unfortunately influential figure: “Concerned citizen here. Anyone think we have a problem when our own president can’t spell Washington? Who voted for this?” No doubt many of us felt this way during the nightmare of a past presidential […]
Projected Alien Aggression and Reverse Engineering of UFOs
In Being Alien, recently launched fourth novel of the Other Worldly series, protagonist Rowan Layne notes, “I couldn’t help but wish our government would reverse engineer indestructible nontoxic materials instead of alien spacecraft, of which their prototypes were cluelessly burning fossil fuels.” If anyone doubts the US government is reverse engineering extraterrestrial technology at fortresses […]
Egoistic Entitlement: The Columbusing of America
Yesterday the Biden Administration was the first to officially commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. A laudable effort to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation and recognition of those actually native to lands now called the United States of America. It’s been a long time coming. Indigenous people versus an illogical obsession with […]
Traveling Through Tomes: Let Books Be Your Passport
I recently saw this post on Twitter: I wish my passport kept a record of all the places I’ve traveled in books. I’m not sure who said it, but we would get along famously, especially in these days of fear-of-COVID travel. I haven’t traveled abroad as much as many I know, despite having been to […]
For the Love of Critters
October is adopt a shelter dog month, and today is World Animal Day, so it’s a stellar time to talk about my dog, Bodie, and my cat, Morris. Bodie wasn’t adopted from a shelter like Morris, but he was rescued from a very bad situation. Both of them rescue me from the doldrums of life. […]
Fourth Book of Other Worldly Series Launches
Being Alien launched this week on Amazon. It’s currently available as a paperback, with many more online bookstores and eBooks soon to follow. This is my very own Brigadoon, so fasten your flying saucer seatbelt and let’s head to the Highlands: As if it weren’t challenging enough for Rowan Layne to address Britain’s Parliament on […]
Writing Critiques: Striking a Sexist Nerve
I recently tried out a new writer’s group where I received excellent constructive feedback on the first chapter of my next novel, Alien Sensation, fifth book of the Other Worldly series. Unfortunately, I also struck a nerve with one male critic who wanted to replace my female protagonist’s discourse on the First Amendment of our […]
Unicorns: Fierce and Not So Fantastical
When I shared initial chapters of Being Alien with my Sin City Writer’s Group for feedback, I first explained how this novel was set primarily in Scotland. One participant inquired, “Will it include unicorns in addition to aliens?” Unicorns? Those silly little ponies, those fantastical creatures favored by girly girls? Why would a novel set […]
Superheroines that Glow Green in the Night
It’s the six month anniversary of the launch of this Luna Moth Woman blog, so let’s talk Luna moths. Perhaps it all came about from pinning towels to the shoulders of play clothes as kids, with visions of being Batgirl as our “capes” flapped behind us while we saved the world from our front yards. […]