I recently read an article about medieval dog names found in a book called "The Names of All Manner of Hounds." Someone was thinking about commercial appeal even in the 15th century. How do you decide on a name for your dog? Once my family ran through a series of US general names: We had Patton and MacArthur and Ike, but I couldn't bring myself to name a dog Schwatzkoff (sp?), so we then went … [Read more...]

I was born and raised in Riverside, a city in southern California. I haven't lived full-time in California since I graduated from high school, but I still love my home state and visit often. Three years ago, my family saw a section of California from a new perspective when we took a road trip on Highway 1 from San Diego to San Francisco. We had a fabulous time! Back then, many readers who … [Read more...]

I'm days, maybe hours, from starting the writing of book three in my current series. I've had the fun of brainstorming how the crimes all happened. I'm excited to dig into the plot, because it feels like there will be so many twists maybe the most that I've ever written. I've spent the last week digging into the research on one of the threads. It's been a hard slog. My legal suspense tends … [Read more...]

Hi friends, and happy Wednesday! My family and I recently took a road trip from Maryland to Florida. My husband and I love road trips. When our girls were young, we made a cross-country trek to the Grand Canyon with lots of stops in between, including visiting family in New Mexico, where we used to live. We hiked the well-familiar Sandia Mountains, visited the Four Corners and Painted Desert, … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago, I had the novel experience of participating in a Book Festival in Budapest, Hungary. There, I met readers like Dalma, signed books, took photos, and listened to heartwarming stories (with some translating help). I also met members of the Hungarian publishing team. When I first started writing, I never imagined having readers (and a publishing team) in another … [Read more...]

Ken and I left home a week ago today and after a visit with our families in Kansas, we headed west to Colorado. Ken made this trip last summer while I stayed home to write, but he wanted me to share the places he'd enjoyed so much. Colorado is gorgeous this year and I've taken hundreds of photos, but I want to just share some highlights with you today. [And please stay tuned to the end where I'll … [Read more...]