Blog/Newsletter

  • Please Don’t Wait–Write Legacy Letters Now

    When we imagine leaving an inheritance for our loved ones, most of us probably think about the cash, homes, or other material goods we plan to pass along to the next generation. But what if, in addition to the money and other valuables we plan to give, we leave behind a bit of our souls as well? You might wonder how in the world that’s possible. Enter the Legacy Letter, a wonderful, simple tool for sharing autobiographical nuggets, family stories, lessons we learned from our life experiences, apologies, forgiveness, or the love and gratitude we feel for the people we will leave behind.   In a few handwritten pages, legacy letter writers can give one of the greatest gifts of all time, and it costs…

  • Come Join Me at the Anoka County Book Fair

    On Saturday, February 24th, at the Anoka County, MN, Northtown Library, please join us for the 7th annual Featured Local Author Fair. There will be a keynote address by best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld, starting at 10:15 am, followed by the book fair at 11:00 am. Meet 16 selected local authors and purchase signed copies directly from the authors at this event. Read more about the featured authors here: https://ow.ly/HsJI50Qrjcp. I hope you will stop by my table so we can talk handwritten letters! I will be available to sign books, if you would like me to. It should be a fun event.

  • No More Excuses, Guys! It’s Time to Write That Love Letter

    I had a terrifying thought today—that one day, AI will write our love letters for us. No muss, no fuss, no effort. It already seems as if too few men “do” romance, but will artificial intelligence simply accelerate the trend away from courtship and romance to even more transactional relationships? Will AI simply become the modern-day equivalent of Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand’s tragic character, who was obliged to woo his friend’s love interest (Roxane) on his behalf? Call me old-fashioned, but through our inaction, romance is languishing. The world needs more love letters. Did you know that many women wish their partners would bring more romance back into the relationship sphere? That they long for more personal, intimate displays of affection, like receiving love…

  • Skip the Ugly Sweater. Write a Christmas Card Instead

    For many years, the bulk of the mail I received around the holidays came from charities, or stores I rarely, if ever did buisness with. Like all environmentally conscious people, I did my best to request that the offending businesses no longer send me voluminous mailings. However, my attempts to “wrangle the beast” felt more like “whack a mole” than anything else.  The catalogs seemed to breed like rabbits, and I never seemed to get ahead of it. It is true that junk mail is, indeed, a sad waste of natural resources. Much of it was never requested by the recipient in the first place and therefore, is never read. So, off to the landfill or (if we were lucky) the recycling bin it goes….

  • “Please Write” a Chanticleer Book Award Short-Lister

    The next list of the Hearten Awards for Inspiring and Uplifting Nonfiction is here, and I am happy to say that I made the next cut. I am officially a “Short-Lister” along with other fine authors. Here is more information on the Chanticleer Hearten Book Award process. The full list of authors is here: HEARTEN SHORT LIST Making it to the Short List means that the judges saw something they liked in our books. From this point on, the competition gets a bit tougher. Book awards are a wonderful way to get feedback on the books we all worked so hard on. I want to wish all the other short-listed authors luck as we move closer to the judges’ final selections.

  • An Important Letter, Never Delivered

    Without warning, the sand beneath my feet disappeared and the water became too deep for me to touch the sandy bottom. Suddenly, we had been transported much farther from the shore. It was all a blur as we tried desperately to dog paddle and swim back to where we had been. Now, I know that this was the worst thing we could have done. Our efforts were futile, and we continued to get further from my parents and the safety of the beach. We both started to tire, and then sink, then desperately try to get to the surface for a breath of air. At that moment, I became terrified that we might drown. It became obvious that I could not win this struggle with the lake for my young life. I was 9 years old, and Lee was 11.   

  • Book Fests Encourage Storytelling

    I am so grateful that people still read real books and participate in book festivals in their communities. I recently participated in my first book festivals as a new author– one in Mankato, MN, the other in St. Paul. MN. There is a vibrant and collegial writing community in this state and wonderful support of writers by the public. At the Mankato sale, I was fortunate to share a table with author Rob Jung, and to be next to another seasoned writer, Eleanor Jane. Both were extremely generous in the sage advice they offered me as a new author. In between customer visits, I enjoyed learning about their experiences with writing and selling books.    It was a real treat talking with the folks roaming…

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