Blog

  • New WIP – All That Glitters – With STEAM

    I’m excited to move forward with my new middle grade historical fiction work in progress, tentatively titled, All That Glitters. Yesterday I visited Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery, the final resting place for several people from the Donner party, including Virginia Reed, who was thirteen when she came West with her mother, stepfather, and siblings. In my middle …[ read more ]

  • The Silver Coin

    Book 3 of the Ancient Elements series is now in its final editing stage! This ship is one of the illustrations in the book drawn by my wonderful illustrator, Marsha Ottum Owen. The book’s cover art is still in the development stage.We hope to publish by the end of June, or early July. If you’d …[ read more ]

  • Why I Write

    Why I Write – Reason #1: So I don’t fall out of bed at night. At least, that’s my working theory. You see, this month I haven’t had time to write. My mom, who has lived with us for the past three years, has dementia. It has now advanced to the point where we needed …[ read more ]

  • Author Visit to Kennedy Middle School

    Last week I spent a day and a half at Kennedy Middle School in Cupertino, CA. I shared with their 6th grade students (500 of them in groups of 60 at a time!) about my Ancient Elements series of books, The Bronze Dagger, The Alabaster Jar, and The Sliver Coin. They also got to see and touch my …[ read more ]

  • A Scout from the 1944 Rising

    This past Saturday I met Halina Butler at a Polish Festival  in Martinez, CA. At the festival, I shared about my book, Rising Hope, which takes place in  Poland during WWII. While speaking with Halina, I learned that, in 1939, she was a 12-year-old Girl Guides member (Girl Scout) when WWII began in Poland. She …[ read more ]