The Epilepsy Foundation is hosting a 26-Minute Reading Challenge in June as a way to raise money. Twenty-six represents the 1 in 26 people who will develop epilepsy in their lifetime. You can support me and other challengers by donating to the cause as we rack up the minutes. I’ve…

In 2007, my mother-in-law, a mutual puzzle lover and experienced cat roommate, knew with the recent adoption of our new overlord, my tidy puzzle-solving days were over. That Christmas, she gave me a jigsaw mat to rectify the issue, along with a photomosaic puzzle of Bart Simpson writing on the…

On New Year’s Day, my husband and I revived our annual tradition of the movie marathon. In the BeforeTimes, movies were released to theaters first, popping up on streaming or DVD months later. Now they’re released on all formats simultaneously or nearly so, and theaters are ghost towns except for…

Over the last year, I think I’ve gotten the hang of this book signing thing, and streamlined my efforts to make the process easier. They’ve all been fun, but full of surprises. You can never gauge attendance, even when conditions seem certain, so say yes to as many opportunities as…

Leslie and I found each other in an online writers’ group, and last year we finally met in person. Every time we talk I find out something new and interesting about her, like where she got her start… Q: Tell us about your writerly beginnings! …

This weekend I attended the Once Upon a Book author signing in Frankenmuth, MI. Being broke-ish, I wanted to maximize my time away. Thus, this was an all-in-one conference/author signing/writing retreat/research fest. Bonus: cheaper gas. Thanks, Michigan and Indiana! My current novel project requires some research into ghost towns and…

We were warned, but no one listened. Soylent arrived in the US in 2013. Not as wafers like the 1973 documentary predicted, but as tasty 4-pack beverages. No one forced us to take it, the food availability situation wasn’t dire. It was simply enticing us from the shelves at Walgreens…

This year, I’m heading to two writers’ conferences, but this time they have to do triple duty. Supermarket prices are high, gas prices are higher, and air travel is scary. Not because of COVID so much anymore, but the nutjobs having tantrums and trying to drop-kick flight attendants. …

Two weeks ago I put up the latest issue of Jenny Eat World. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, until I realized that it was not the third installment after all, but the second. I’d written others, but they stayed in the first draft folder. Worse than that, the…