Monthly Archive: May 2014

Just like the water company, this is a friendly reminder that you are invited to investigate my back story chapters through my website. I’ve included two major chapters and will add more after I finish my mini-Montana book tour. I enjoyed living through that general era and I know many of my experiences and observations will mirror those of other individuals. Ah, the simple days…when petticoats fluffed out skirts and guys wore crewcuts. Wait! Was it really simple  or was it just my naiveté? Maybe both.  Send me your recollections; let’s see if our thinking aligns.

Bozeman is a beautiful Montana town with friendly people, lots of readers and exciting writers! Today I attended a women’s book club meeting and listened to them discuss The Rosie Project. They spent time answering questions, adding their opinions and them planning their summer reads around a delicious Key lime pie and strawberries. The scene out the window, a range of mountains and a wide-open sky, made for a lovely two hours spent with women who love story and words. In the evening I met with the Gypsy Rhythm Writers at the Bozeman Public Library, a new state-of-art facility along Seventh....

I had a chance to visit the Country Bookshelf Bookstore  Sunday afternoon for a brief book event. Lovely Indie shop with a cozy feel and a loft for sharing 84 Ribbons with a few hearty souls. I left during a drowning rainstorm. Thanks to Heather we made the trip to my car in one soggy race against the wind. Then it was on the see the last act of Opera Bozeman’s production of La Cenerentola, Rossini’s Cinderella story. Lovely voices, humor in motion and a chance to see a different version of  the story. I was priviledged to be invited to...

Spending Saturday as ‘just a writer’ was a delightful break from traveling and driving. The Get Published Conference was a small yet dedicated group of writers from Central Montana and Wyoming organized by Lynn Minneman with writers Danielle Girard and Keith McCafferty as presenters. During the day we had pages shared for group critiques, meet and greet time and a local improv writer/actor who shared ideas for writers. Nice day! The lovely, warm sunshine gave way to hail, rain and thunder and lightning  then opened up for a brilliant sunset. Looking around the area at all the snow-capped mountains reminds me...

Last night we drove on the Bozeman alongside the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone River and moving southeast through the Rocky Mountains. We left the campus at the University of Montana and the dusty plain for the vast forests in the Rockies and into cooler (68 degrees) wide plains. The UM bookstore was a busy place with grads picking up graduation gowns , etc and returning/selling texts they don’t anticipate needing as they step to life. I spoke with many and met several people who slowed down to talk with me about 84 Ribbons. We almost had a problem when...

Traveling by car is a favorite way to go for me. I enjoy the scenery, the small vistas and the large views. I enjoy the approaches to small towns, the local markets and shops and the chance to compare where I live with where others happily abide. Missoula is very different from Edmonds. Our Puget Sound waterfront, tall evergreens and distant mountains are replaced by dusty rolling hills and farmlands as we approach the town. Over the decades the small town I remember has grown to surround a major interstate highway, I-90. The giant ‘M’ on the hill for the...

Today we are beginning our drive to Montana. Rich and I will follow I-90 to Spokane and stay overnight in Coeur d’Alene, ID. In the morning we’ll drive on to Missoula for the first book event (Fact and Fiction bookstore at 5 Campus Drive). The last time I was in Missoula was decades ago for a high school summer church conference. I remember about two dozen of us took the train, ignoring the scenery and differences between Bremerton and Missoula. I wrote about the bus ride Marta took based on a driving trip Rich and I made east to Montana...

Looking for your opinions. Select as many answers as apply to you. Please add your comments to this blog on the website. 1.  If you went to a ballet performance, what type of ballet would you prefer: a.  classical story ballet like The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty b. contemporary ballet ( Jewels, Prodigal Son, Fancy Free) c. Balanchine ballets (Apollo, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream) 2.  Do women composers and choreographers create as successful lasting works as their male counterparts? Yes or No. Can you name any of the women? 3.  Do you listen to classical ballet music on the radio...

More answers to common question about me. 84 Ribbons and writing. Feel free to send your questions at any time. Was it difficult to jump from writing non fiction (Educating America) to writing ballet-themed fiction? Not really. I read mostly fiction and I love the world of ballet. Since I used to dance, I thought it would be fun to visit that first love (from age 3) and build the world of a young professional dancer. Marta came to me one evening with her life and her story outlined. The novel grew from her early conversations with me in my...

I am often asked what traits I feel Marta exhibits throughout 84 Ribbons. So, I’m asking you to tell me what traits stand out to you after reading the book. Send a comment back about today’s post using the numbers in front of each trait. I’ll tabulate your ideas and post them in a future blog post. Feel free to list as many traits as you wish, adding your own ideas as well. Here goes traits from A-H. We’ll do I-W in a future blog post. A.  amazement          B. amusement          C. annoyance          D.  anxiety         E.  confidence          F.  confusion          G.  curiosity         ...