It’s been a few years since I’ve written about Lughnasadh, and it’s on my mind today. What is Lughnasadh? It’s an ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the sun god Lugh, and it inspired Lammas Day, a festival in Christianity that celebrates the harvest of wheat and other early crops. I’m always interested in somewhat obscure holidays, and I was especially
If you have a website, a blog, a tumblr, or an Instagram account that you approach in a semi-professional or artistic way, you might want to figure out your brand colors or create a personal color palette. It can tie everything together, make design decisions easier, and convey who you are. I’m not a designer, and I know some of
On Saturday I worked on my novel-in-progress for hours, and then we went to the beach. I’ve written about this before, but sometimes I have trouble taking a break and going to a park or the beach, and I’m always glad when I do it. Honestly, for me, connecting with nature is a key to happiness. It’s easy
Hi friends! Welcome to another WIP Wednesday—the first Wednesday of the month, when I share an excerpt of a work in progress and invite you to do the same in the comments. It’s fine if it’s rough. That’s the “in progress” part! We don’t critique anything, though a kind word is always welcome. Please keep your excerpt under 500 words
In my day job in publishing, whenever we’re discussing a new story, one thing we’re often asking is, “What’s the character arc?” (It’s also a reason we pass on a lot of stories: “I don’t understand his arc.”) Without a strong character arc, the reader (or the editor) may be left thinking, “So what? Why should I care?” Simply put, the
On the morning of June 25, 2014, I had an early morning surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. The surgeon took out my left kidney and put it in a container that looked like a beer cooler. It was sent to the greater San Diego area and put in a man who was suffering from late-stage kidney disease.
My novel The Equinox Stone features a hero who suffers from retrograde amnesia. Because I wanted to do a good job writing about amnesia, I did a lot of research on types of amnesia, symptoms, treatment, and causes (even though in my character’s case, the cause is not something that could ever happen in real life. I hope.) I hope