“After today, nothing in her well-ordered life would remain the same; she was not a woman who liked the sharp, jagged edges of change.” Kristin Hannah, On Mystic Lake, p.4 This quote hit home, hard and fast. That’s me! Oh my! I do like my well-ordered life. The day-to-dayness flowing like a lazy river of meeting my friends for coffee, reading my book club book-of-the-month, heading off to the cabin or flying to Kona is drifting away . I’m stepping into a deep river of surging water, whirlpools and cascading waterfalls. I hope I won’t drown in the river of...

* barre: a two-inch diameter cylinder made of wood or metal, affixed waist high along a wall or on a portable stand that dancers hold for balance and mild support during warm-up exercises   84 Ribbons is warming up as Launch Day dances closer. To celebrate, I’m inviting you to subscribe to my website so you’ll be able to follow and possibly attend some of my book events. Watch for the subscribe contest today. Exercise your chance to win by signing up.  I look forward to having you join me as we step into Marta’s world of ballet and her...

It’s important to write the main, tension-filled story, but don’t forget to write the in-between parts as well: sensory details, secondary characters, secondary plots. These add depth to a storyline and give the reader a chance to settle in and get comfortable while the story unfolds. Thin streaks of magenta lay between the dark mountains and the blue-black sky. The Lake Dreams the Sky by Swain Wolfe (p.48) There was a quarter moon sending a white shaft of light through the open window. It wasn’t cold, just cold enough to make you pull the covers to your chin and let...