Cold Case In Ellyson

As luck would have it, my oldest needed “a quick read” for a language arts requirement before spring break. I went to my now less-than-complete (because I lost every book I owned in Hurricane Ivan) bookcase and grabbed a thin one – The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. “Here,” I said. “It’s […]

To write, you have to read. No writer has ever lived in a vacuum of wordlessness. And most writers are prolific readers. One of my favorite hangouts in my childhood home was a tiny library nestled just down the hall from my bedroom. It must have been five feet by ten, just enough room for […]

If you look at the NCAA tournament start, you know that nothing is ever a given. As I said in a previous blog, any dog, any day. That’s how I see my opponents on the tennis court, my boys’ opponents on the baseball field, and my future in your local bookstore. It’s not always talent […]

I saw a new review of my book on Amazon today. Although I appreciate every five-star review, what I loved most was her declaration that my book was not cliched. I hate ordinary. The worst thing anyone could say to me is that I’m boring or my writing stale. After all, the book is a […]

Although the sport is played everywhere, including the Far East, baseball has the feel of a Southern sport to me. This past weekend, I helped organize a tournament for my sons’ teams, and although the weekend was a successful fundraiser, our teams did not fare so well. I have a saying, “any dog, any day,” […]

I had shoes, but I didn’t often wear them, especially in the summer. Living on a stretch of bay beach, there was little need. But at a young age, I realized how calloused and tough they were when I realized I had just walked across a smoldering fire where dad was burning some leaves. I […]

Love her or hate her, Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side. That movie shows us a great story about kindness, triumph and faith. In our own lives, we have stories, too. Most of them not as meaningful as changing someone’s life […]

It’s true. I walk. And I walk on streets. Ergo, I am a streetwalker. We have to be careful with our words. What means one thing to me is another to you. When I wrote Cold Case in Ellyson, I began the book by painting a picture for those of you who know little of […]

So if my law enforcement gene pool started with my grandfather, from whence did the literary gene pool bubble? My father’s a scientist, his father a builder, dad’s mom a secretary, my mom had no artistic talent, but my sister both writes and paints…when I look at my children, I wonder from which pool they […]

For my readers who don’t know me, I am also a tennis player – hard core, competitive, most of the time pretty good. Heck, I’m even ranked as a singles player nationally. But today, today I was wild – crazy – erratic – a poor excuse for a doubles partner. I have learned through living […]