My Recent Projects
For the most part, I write short stories and novels, but I’ve also written a memoir. If you’d like me to pop into your inbox occasionally, click the Newsletter tab above. When I update my blog or announce a giveaway, you’ll hear from me. I have just recently begun a Substack blog, so maybe I will see some of you over there.
Bodies of Water, my newest short story collection
Perceptive, moving, and quietly powerful. — Prairies Book Review
Fourteen unforgettable stories. One powerful theme. A beautifully written collection. Highly recommended. — The Wishing Shelf
I’m thrilled to share that my new short story collection, Bodies of Water, is coming soon. Thirteen stories set across four continents — from Lake Powell in drought-stricken Arizona to the Ganges at dawn, from a nursing home in suburban Illinois to a Greek fishing dory somewhere between France and Greece. Every story has water in it. Every story is about something else entirely.
Some of these stories come from personal experience. Some come from research. Some come from conversations — a professor in Dresden who took me to a village of toymakers; a firefighter who described September 11th in language I’ve never forgotten; a yoga student who’d gone to Rishikesh and described the Ganges at dawn. The stories that move me most are the ones where the research disappears entirely and what’s left is just the human being.
Historical fiction and a trip that ends with a pandemic
After the craziness of Covid and multiple moves in the last four years, I put this novel on hold, mainly because I need time to develop a marketing plan. The Vermillion Sea is about a young, French artist who goes to Baja California in 1769. You can learn more about my research on the characters by clicking the BLOG tab above.
A debut novel that has special relevance for caregivers
My first novel, Montpelier Tomorrow, is definitely not a beach read, but for anyone who has ever been a caregiver, I think it will offer a measure of comfort. So often caregivers beat themselves up. There’s a kind of mythology about caregiving that makes us feel we have to be superhuman, even if we’re sleep-deprived and going broke.
Montpelier Tomorrow won a Gold Medal for Drama from the Readers’ Favorites International Book Awards. It was also a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Prize, the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the Faulkner-Wisdom Award, and the Bellwether Prize. Even if I never publish another book, I am proud to say I wrote this one.