I’m home now after two months on the road promoting my book, and every morning, I wake up with a start:  Where am I?

I could be anywhere.  I could be in a Hampton Inn in Dayton, Ohio.  I could be in a Ritz Carlton in downtown Los Angeles.  I could even be in my own bed.  And it’s an interesting experiment lying there, daring the early morning birds, living into that not knowing. 

I’ve known exactly where I am when I wake for many years.  I am in my bed in Montana, once again waking to the same cool celadon green of my walls, the same mahogany antique desk that I’ve ruined with hot tea mugs, the rings to prove it.  There is a stack of books covering those rings, and I’ve read too little of those words, and so usually, I awake to guilt.  Guilt in the rings and books and inevitable dust—a dead fly or two on the window sill.  I feel guilt, but I feel comfort.  I am the keeper of these inanimates. more...

Lately, I have been working on unraveling my impulse to try harder, along with an addiction to feeling strained and stressed – as though these conditions are true indicators of putting in proper effort and guaranteeing desired results. I love to write and draw, but when the work is marked with heavy effort it becomes chore-like, a signal that I am attempting to outrun fear and insecurity by trying harder.

When I was a child, I wanted to be pretty the way I thought some other girls were pretty.  I took to getting different haircuts to try and achieve “pretty”.  But each haircut led to a greater sense of hopelessness.  I felt jealous of the girls for whom being pretty seemed easy - and undeniably separated from what I wanted. 

One day, while tagging along with a schoolmate, Liz – who had long, thick, straight blond hair – we stopped by her home and I watched as she went to the bathroom mirror and pinned her bangs back with small clips and put the rest in a ponytail.  I stood in awe of her comfort with her own reflection, with her hair, with the choices she was making. more...

In the very near future, things on Earth aren't looking so good. Amy's scientist parents have been recruited to go on a mission to a distant planet.  It will take a while to get there, so they will be cryogenically frozen for 350 years. Amy's dad gives her the option to back out and live out her life on earth with other family members.  But Amy decides to throw in her lot with her parents, and she is frozen as well.

And then she wakes up—decades before she is supposed to. Onboard this giant ship, Amy finds that a strange, self-sustaining civilization exists—and that somebody is going around unplugging, and in many cases killing, the frozen scientists.  A boy her own age, Elder, helps her adjust to her new life and get to the bottom of the murder mystery aboard the ship.

Although the romantic element of the plot is featured prominently on the cover, this title is not primarily a romance. Instead, give this to science fiction fans who might also enjoy a who-dun-it.  more...

I want to spend this month celebrating the printed book. You remember them, right? They sell them at places called bookstores. Of course, when I drove to my local Borders last week to grab a book I’d had my eye on, the lights were off and a hand printed sign on the door read, “FOR LEASE.” Through the windows (and through my tears) I saw a few empty bookcases still waiting to be broken up for kindling, and I felt a sadness descend upon me. Of course, I just drove down the road to the bustling Barnes & Noble and felt A-Okay again, but you get the idea.

It’s getting much harder for traditional books to survive and thrive in this world of ebook publishing. Amazon just released their study showing that more Kindle eBooks are being sold than printed books. That’s pretty amazing, and illustrates the overall communal shift to ebooks. This is sad for traditionalists, but I hope there will always be a place for printed books in our world (no matter how small). *Full disclosure: I love my Kindle. I used to bring a rolling suitcase solely for books when going on vacation (yes, I’m a dork), so the Kindle does serve its purpose. And there’s nothing better than finishing up a fantastic novel at midnight and being able to instantly download the next book in the saga. However, I’ve managed to balance my love of the printed book with my need for instant gratification quite well.  more...