Fred the cat was happy in the tumbledown, comfortable house he shared with Jake. He liked the soft feel of the worn floor and the way that floor squeaked when Jake shuffled across it. He liked the sag in the ceiling and the way the light swayed and shadows danced when the wind blew hard […]
Feb 23, 2023
Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in a Cozy Mystery
By · Leave a Comment
Cozy mysteries are fun to read and fun to write. If they were not, who would read or write them? As well as being fun, they are instructive. They’ve taught me several life lessons. Storms come in every life. There is no problem than cannot be solved. Perseverance wins the day. Home’s hearth fires burn […]
Feb 6, 2023
A Dog-Shaped Shadow
By · Leave a Comment
My Shadow My shadow’s not like me at all; It’s three feet long and two feet tall. Two floppy ears, a pointy nose, Where I go, there my shadow goes. Four furry feet, a shortish tail, It follows close and, without fail, If I sit down, it sits down too For that’s what all good […]
Dec 16, 2022
Facts Are Facts and Fiction is …
By · Leave a Comment
Remember the old, black and white TV series, Dragnet and the phrase, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” This unflappable team of Jack Webb and Harry Morgan spent a whole thirty minutes ferreting out the bad guys and getting to the facts of the case. But, fiction writers can have fun fiddlin’ with the facts. In writing By […]
Apr 7, 2022
Learning, Rules, Fun
By · Leave a Comment
I tend to look back sometimes, and, lately I’ve been thinking about a little one-room school my brother and I attended in northern Oklahoma– wheat, alfalfa, and cattle country. I close my eyes and see it plainly in memory. The school’s name was Valley Center. The teacher was Miss Virginia. The school was her life […]
