When words get in the way

June has arrived and I’ve just started the first day of my vacation. The husband and I are checking into the Queen Mary Hotel tomorrow for a thrilling stationary weekend voyage in Long Beach Harbor. Ghost hunting will definitely be on the agenda as well as dining and grand buffets. However, I’ll be spending much of […]

Creating a New Marketing Plan

How many authors have experienced the fear that no one wants to buy your book? It’s not unusual, based on the number of my peers who have said as much. But it’s tough to get negative thoughts out of your head, those lingering toxic emotions, whispering sweet apprehensions and self-doubts causing nothing but anxiety and dreadful imaginary scenarios that […]

The Have and Have Nots?

My response to an article at Literary Hub called, “HOW THE LITERARY CLASS SYSTEM IS IMPOVERISHING LITERATURE-ON THE SYSTEMIC ECONOMIC BARRIERS TO BEING A WRITER.” Writer Lorraine Berry discusses her views on MFA degrees as a (possible) form of elitist class privilege: Interesting article. It did make we wonder if the discussion has to be so (seemingly) […]

Plotting, Planning, and traveling back in Time

It’s not always easy to look back and evaluate your work with a critical eye. But it’s healthy, necessary, and motivating when you realize that you’ve acquired the skill set to see the areas that need work. And in review, some of those areas seem rather alarming and you wonder how that sentence or paragraph […]

Managing Critical Reviews

I knew that there would be readers of my book that didn’t share my point of view on fat. That was a given. I wrote my novel to share my thoughts on fat, equality and the right to choose to live any way that you want to regardless of your body size. And I’ve been working to […]

Cheese Danishes

I awoke this morning to the birds singing and the bright misty light in the bedroom and immediately realized that my alarm didn’t go off. It was 5:30 am – the time I usually leave for work. My phone lost its charge and died somewhere in the early morning hours between dreams. I chose not […]

It’s Nothing but Racist Revulsion for the Bodies of Fat People

It’s hard to find the words to describe the disgust I have when I see complete and absolute hatred of a person by a fellow human being. My initial desire is to bring the venom-spitting goon to his or her knees by any means possible with less-than-elegant names and a few punches until I feel better. […]