Writings, Wanderings

As the year draws a close ("Auld Lang Syne" is playing on my TV as I write this), I find myself reflecting on the big moments. Three stand out to me, not just because they were big but because they also forced me to face my fears. 1. Cuba.     I spent two weeks in Cuba as part of a summer program for teachers through the Stone Institute at Tulane University. The travel wasn't the scary part--it was being with a group of people I had never met. However, I was blessed with a roommate that got me and developed other friendships. By not letting my nervousness about meeting lots of new people get in my way, I got to experience Cuban culture from a different perspective than most tourists. I listened to lectures from a former diplomat, current teachers, women involved in the literacy program from the beginning of the Revolution, and a rap duo. I toured old Havana, a top art museum, a farm run by Hershey's company, Che's burial site, and the UNESCO city of

Three novels read in the month of December! The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie was a smooth read and probably my favorite of the month. The characters were not overly developed but I read Christie for the plot, the mystery. As usual, I didn't guess the murderer, but it is always fun to see how the events tie together once the puzzle is laid out. The book also brought up the issue of mental illness and PTSD long before it was talked about in mainstream conversation which I found interesting. The Cost of Betrayal was a set of novellas by Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, and Lynette Eason. While I enjoyed these reads, I did not feel that they were of the same caliber as the full-length novels I have read by the first two writers. Reflecting a few days after wrapping up the book, I think my favorite novella ended up being "Betrayal" by Dee Henderson. I feel as though the blurb was a little misleading but the story was interesting. In both "Deadly Isle" by Dani P

Looking to buy a book for a child for Christmas? Check out what I've read in the last month to get my opinion on some choices! Dinosaur vs Santa is my top pick for reading with little ones for this season. This book followed an adorable if slightly mischievous dinosaur kid as he prepared for Christmas. I had a lot of fun reading this story out loud with its dinosaur sound effects as he made presents, decorated the tree, and more. The illustrations are simple but engaging. Enrichment idea: discuss Dinosaur vs Halloween (or another holiday). What activities would he need to successfully conquer for this holiday? Draw some of your own pictures. Wombat Walkabout was another fun read although it did have me nervous about the fate of the wombats until nearly the end! What I loved about this book was its integration of words used in Australia. There was a glossary at the front of the book, but I actually missed it until I had read the story. However, the story and

Over a decade ago I discovered NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is a challenge to write 50,000 words of fiction in one month, enough for a novel. The first year I tried it with a personal goal of just hitting 20K. With my success at that number, the following year I went for the full 50K and have "won" eleven times now. My 2013 NaNo project eventually became Through Hammers and Verse: Revealing Love . This year I took a different approach to NaNoWriMo. Instead of writing a brand new idea, I used the time to make significant progress on my romance trilogy of novellas tentatively titled Suitcases & Love . I had finished the first draft with one round of revision of book one before September but with school kicking into gear, the second book about Aubrye and Greg had languished. NaNo proved to be the jumpstart I needed. Although the first few days I fell behind the optimal word count (1667 words per day), I caught up after the first weeken

How did your November reading go? I finished four novels (one as an audiobook). My favorite one was the audiobook and happened to my book club's choice for the month which means I never would have picked this one up on my own. It is my favorite because the author did such a good job with her research but the book itself was gut-wrenching. Placed in the 1920's and 30's, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women  by Kate Moore traces the struggle faced by the women who worked for the radium companies to have their health problems diagnosed and then compensated as the ugly truth surfaced that they had become sick through their jobs. I was amazed to learn how radium had been considered healthy enough to add to their water, paint on their faces, and put in sandboxes. With this public perception, it was not surprising that it took doctors so long to pinpoint the source of the women's problems, but the companies' avoidance of their responsibility an