A Few Special Occasions

Posted on July 29, 2023 ·

Image by Bea Kamhal from Pixabay

This month I’m celebrating a few special occasions. One is my 48th birthday (today!), and the other is the one-year anniversary of The House on Linden Way. 

If you’ve read Linden Way, the above image will make sense. The story, after all, relies heavily on the concept of time and the ways we become trapped within it. 

Life can feel fleeting in how days move swiftly and take with them so many memories. As both a writer and a mother I feel bound to the responsibility of capturing those memories. Journaling becomes almost an act of despair, driven by the persistent knowledge that a moment not captured is a moment lost. 

I want to remember.

And yet we cannot spend our lives reliving the past, and not everything needs to be preserved. A writer’s job is distillation. 

That’s part of what makes Linden Way special. It distills so much that’s important to me—motherhood, childhood, and sibling bonds—into a story half real, half imagined, and unburdened by details that belong in those late-night journals.

Happy anniversary to the book of my heart, and here’s to another year of writing.

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The End of the Tour; The Start of Something New

Posted on October 30, 2022 ·

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Whew! After a busy six weeks of guest posts, interviews, and giveaways, the Linden Way blog tour has come to an end. Here are the posts from the last two weeks, in case you missed them:

In an interview over at Literary Quicksand, I discuss my writing routine, how long it took to write The House on Linden Way, and one thing I’m afraid of that other people probably wouldn’t find very scary…

Author Anthony Avina kindly reviewed The House on Linden Way, writing “the combination of the horror/metaphysical aspect of the haunting story with the heartfelt and compelling character development made this a breathtaking novel.”

Avina also offered me a guest spot on his blog, where I wrote about the art of brevity and writing the novella.

Other reviews include this one by Wildwood Reads, describing Linden Way as a “unique ghost story that took off from the very beginning”; and this one by The Frugalista Mom, who called the plot captivating and wrote “Amber’s struggle between holding on to her childhood memories and living in the real world was very much relatable.”

Thank you again to everyone who helped make the tour a success!

And now it’s time to curl up in a quiet corner and wrap myself in a warm blanket and a new story. If you listen closely you may hear the sound of a pencil slowly whispering across a page, but that’s all you’ll hear from me for a while.

Until then, Happy Halloween, everyone! May your holiday be filled with laughter, love, and lots of treats.

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Linden Way Blog Tour: Reviews, Guest Posts, and My Personal Highlight (So Far!)

Posted on October 16, 2022 ·

Image by DreamPixer from Pixabay

Weeks three and four of the Linden Way blog tour included a review by Jess over at Literary Quicksand that has been the tour highlight for me.

Jess teaches middle school language arts, and she included an anecdote about a reluctant reader that nearly moved me to tears. Any time in the future I’m feeling low about writing and wondering if it’s all worth it, I’m just going to pull up this one review and remember I made a difference to this one teen.

Here are some other reviews from the last few weeks:

Sue Bradford Edwards at One Writer’s Journey reviewed Linden Way, calling it an unnerving story that “has that old school horror vibe.”

Nicole Pyles at World of My Imagination offers her own thoughts on Linden Way, describing Amber as a rich and complex character: “I loved the pushes and pulls of memories that feel so achingly real to her but impossible to change.”

Chris at GirlZombieAuthors had mixed feelings about Linden Way, but enjoyed the family relationships, which she posted about in an honest review: “The best relationship here is Amber’s interactions and remembrances with her brother.”

And Judy at Knotty Needle Creative admits to being spooked by Linden Way, but ended up enjoying this “rollercoaster of a read.”

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed The House on Linden Way!

Posts penned by me include 5 Tips for Getting Unstuck When Writing Your Novel, and a little essay that captures the heart of Linden Way called The Lingering Ghosts of Our Childhood Homes.

Finally, enjoy this fun interview with Linda at Boots, Shoes, and Fashion, where I answer questions like what inspired me to write, which character in Linden Way was the hardest to write, and most importantly: boots or shoes?

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The Lingering Ghosts of Our Childhood Homes

Posted on October 3, 2022 ·

Image by alberto15886 from Pixabay

(This piece was meant to be a guest post for the Linden Way blog tour, but due to some technical issues with the host’s site, I’m posting it here instead.)

My childhood home wasn’t mine for long. If a house has memories, I am the ghost of one—there and gone, like smoke. But my own memories are like ghosts themselves, the kind that linger, the kind that follow you in and out of dreams. 

We lived in that one-story red-brick home from the time I was nine until I was thirteen. That’s it—five years, and yet they seem to encompass my whole childhood. Bookending those years were stretches of poverty—subsidized housing, postage stamp apartments—as my mother, a Panamanian emigrant, struggled to support her children on a waitress’s income. It was her brief second marriage that lifted us temporarily into the middle class, where we were able to afford our own home, on a street called Linden Way.

That home, with its basement bedrooms and red shag carpet, is clearer to me than any of the places I lived in during my teens or twenties. If I close my eyes and really try, I can remember them, but they mean nothing—they were simply places, walls and carpet, kitchens and bedrooms, a balcony or maybe a porch. Until I purchased the house where I would raise my children, decades later, the house on Linden Way was the only place I’d ever considered a home.

I remember slumber parties in the basement, digging for worms in the backyard, lying on my bed and listening to records for entire afternoons. I remember my stepdad splitting wood for the fireplace, my brother playing his guitar in the room next to mine, my best friend tapping on my window and slipping through in the middle of the night. 

But I have no memory of leaving. 

My last memory is of my stepdad sitting at the kitchen table explaining to me that he was moving out. The next thing I remember is living with my mother in a two-bedroom second-floor apartment a few streets over. It was fine, I was fine. I could still walk to my best friend’s house in eight minutes flat, I could still hang out at the elementary school in the evenings, swinging or playing on the bars. 

I could also walk by my old house. The one that no longer belonged to me. And when I turned sixteen, after my mom and I moved to a rental on the other side of town, I could drive back to the house on Linden Way. Park across the street and just sit awhile. 

Eventually I moved away from my hometown, and in the thirty years since I’ve returned only once, when my daughter was three. I stopped by the house. I asked the owner to take a picture of my daughter and I standing in front of it. 

Many years later this moment would become the opening scene of a book, one where childhood homes have unworldly power and memories are living things. In the pages of this book I wrote tributes to the house on Linden Way, a place that I would go back to if I could, but only for a little while. I wrote tributes to the basement bedrooms and red shag carpet, to the marvel and myth of memory, to the lingering ghosts of our childhood homes. 

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On the Benefits of Self-Publishing and the Thrill of a Good October Story

Posted on October 2, 2022 ·

Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay

I’d originally envisioned my blog tour for The House on Linden Way to take place in July. That was the month I’d promised to release the book in print, and it made sense to promote it right after publication and throughout the summer.

That didn’t quite work out. By the time I was ready to book the tour, the earliest dates Women on Writing had available were in September and October. It took about five minutes after hearing this news to reconcile my vision: of course autumn was the perfect time to promote a haunted house story! It was clearly meant to be.

Now in its second week, the blog tour has been a total blast, and I’ve enjoyed putting together the guest posts (and having extra time to write them).

Here are the links for my recent tour stops:

On Tuesday, I stopped by Mindy McGinnis’s blog to talk about the differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing (and which path I prefer).

On Friday, I was over at The Faerie Review discussing the chilling comfort of October stories and offering up a few of my personal favorites.

And today I was treated to a surprise review by my incredibly dedicated and hard-working tour manager, Crystal. Thanks, Crystal! You’re the sweetest. 🙂

Next week I’ll share a few more reviews, an interview, and a guest post called “The Lingering Ghosts of Our Childhood Homes.” See you then!

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Fall into Reading and the Linden Way Blog Tour

Posted on September 24, 2022 ·


Happy autumn, everyone! I am so excited for this season. After three years I can finally take my fall workshop again (it just wouldn’t have been the same on Zoom); my blog tour for The House on Linden Way kicked off this week and continues throughout October; and I’m part of a new Women on Writing giveaway called Fall into Reading, because what better way to celebrate any occasion than with FREE books?!

Click here for more information on the Fall into Reading giveaway, which includes 16 books (one of which should look familiar!), various other prizes, and a $150 Amazon gift card.

On to Linden Way! All of the dates for the blog tour are listed below; there are 22 stops over six weeks featuring reviews, spotlights, articles, and interviews. I’ll post a weekly roundup here so that you don’t miss a thing.

In Monday’s interview on Women on Writing, I talked about the journey of writing Linden Way, the truth in my fiction, and the differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing.

On Thursday I was over at Deborah Adam’s blog with a piece called “Exploring Our Deepest Fears Through Speculative Fiction.” 

And on Friday The House on Linden Way was in the spotlight on The Faerie Review.

That’s it for this week! See you soon, and thank you all for your continued support.

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Available Now! Read The House on Linden Way

Posted on July 22, 2022 ·

Today I am thrilled to announce the release of my novel The House on Linden Way! I’ve been talking about this book for so long I almost can’t believe it’s finally time to share it with you. 

Unless you’re brand new to this blog, you already know the history—Linden Way started five years ago as a short story, grew into a much longer one, but was never quite long enough for traditional publishing. I tried stretching it to reach the industry standard length for adult fiction (60k words minimum), but it always felt wrong, like I was trying to force the story to be something it was not. 

I pushed it to 50k words and started querying anyway, and I actually had a pretty good response. Of the 58 agents I sent it to, five requested the full manuscript, and three of them kept Linden Way under consideration for over a year. Several others sent personalized rejections with encouraging notes. Yet this all happened over the span of two and half years, and at some point I had to re-evaluate my goals for this particular project. 

Did I want to keep pursuing a publishing path that had so few options for novellas? Because after all that time, I still knew one thing for sure—I did not want to turn Linden Way into something that it wasn’t. 

I also started re-evaluating my overall goals as a writer. What were my reasons for seeking a traditional book deal in the first place? Did I care about advances, bookstore placement, and status? I realized I did not, that mostly I just wanted to write the best story I could, put it out in the world, and move on to the next one. 

Once I knew what I wanted and felt certain Linden Way did not have a place in traditional publishing, I pulled the manuscript from consideration, stripped it back down to its original 46k-word length (man, that felt good), and took the leap into self-publishing. As of today you can purchase it in ebook or print or read it on Kindle Unlimited. 

To help celebrate the release, I’ve teamed up with the fabulous Women on Writing, who hosted my blog tour for The Fourth Wall in 2014. The tour for my new otherworldly ghost story launches in September—just in time for spooky season. I am so excited! I’ll be offering tips on how to get unstuck when writing a novel, talking more about my process writing The House on Linden Way, sharing my experiences with both traditional and indie publishing, and much more! 

And speaking of Women on Writing, I’m over there today with a little writing advice about how to keep things simple so you don’t get lost in the details. 

Enjoy, and as always, thanks for your support!

The House on Linden Way is available in print and ebook here. 

You can add it to Goodreads here. 

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Linden Way Cover Reveal

Posted on June 10, 2022 ·

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Summer has a way of blurring days until time loses all meaning. In June especially I am happy to let the days slip by unaccounted for and unmarked on the calendar. That’s why, when I sat down this morning to blog and noted the date on the post, I did a double take. And then I broke into a smile.

June 10 was the day, eight years ago, when The Fourth Wall was officially published. Since then I’ve had the honor of appearing in other books as an essayist and short story-teller, and those books have kept my debut company on my bookshelf, but until now The Fourth Wall has been the lone novel.

That changes next month with the release of The House on Linden Way. It’s been a very different journey: Linden Way is self-published while The Fourth Wall was published traditionally, although since the latter was released through a small press I guess you could say I’ve been indie all along.

In a future post I’ll go into the differences, but for now I want to tell you what’s the same: the tremendous sense of accomplishment in seeing your creative vision through. Kudos to all of you out there doing this very thing.

Here’s the cover for Linden Way, designed by Kitten at Deranged Doctor Design. When I post again in July, it will be with a link to order. That is, if I don’t get lost in the hazy days of June.

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The Story of My Heart

Posted on February 14, 2022 ·

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Every author has that one novel–the one cherished above all others, the one that makes her think, If I never write anything else, that’s okay, because I wrote this. I’ve written eight books, and while each is special in its own way, the fourth one is the book of my heart.

The House on Linden Way began as a short story in the summer of 2017. I was waiting for a car repair and began sketching out an idea for a haunted house story. The house would be the main character’s childhood home, which she was revisiting for the first time in many years. When her young daughter vanishes inside, the mother tries searching for her but keeps getting trapped in memories. I soon realized I had a book on my hands, and when it was finished nearly two years later I wrote the following query:

While passing through her hometown a decade after she left, Amber Blake impulsively revisits her old house on Linden Way. She only means to stay a moment, to show her three-year-old daughter Bee the place where she grew up. But when the kindly new owners invite them inside, Amber cannot resist.

Soon Bee is missing, the owners have disappeared, and Amber finds herself in a houseful of ghosts. Time takes on new meaning as she loses herself in living memories and a past that does not wish to be forgotten.

As Amber fights the powerful lure of a childhood she’d long left behind, her tenuous hold on the real world slips further from her grasp. Is it merely nostalgia she’s battling, or something far more menacing? Who haunts the house on Linden Way, and where are they hiding her child?

When I began Linden Way, I didn’t know yet who or what was haunting the house. Like many of my stories, I’d imagined something sinister and evil and ended up with something more complex. What I did know was that I wanted to write a story about the trappings of nostalgia and the lifelong imprint of our childhood homes.

The book is personal because it includes so many things that are important to me, including the power of sibling bonds, the bittersweet memories of growing up, and the fierce strength of motherhood. It is unequivocally the book of my heart, and I’m thrilled to begin publishing it today on Kindle Vella. Read the first chapter here, and follow the story as new chapters will publish every Tuesday and Thursday from now until June. Enjoy!

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New Year, New Dreams

Posted on January 22, 2022 ·

Image by Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay

I have always been intrigued by the concept of giving something up for the new year. Writing it down on a slip of paper and then burning it. So often we focus on what we want to gain instead of the things we need to lose.

When I looked back on 2021 in an effort to list my tangible writing accomplishments, I found some good ones: editing my middle grade novel, drafting five short pieces over the summer, making progress on my fairy tale WIP, self-publishing a book and a short story on Kindle Vella, and traditionally publishing a piece of creative nonfiction which would go on to earn nominations for Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, and Best American Essays.

This all feels amazing, but perhaps the most important thing I achieved last year was deciding what I wanted as a novelist and choosing a path that fit that goal. Then I wrote down my old path and lit a match.

What I’m leaving behind in 2021 is the pursuit of traditional book publishing. Ever since Kindle Vella was announced last spring, I’ve felt such passion for the possibilities of publishing my own work. At first I’d planned on only releasing commercial fiction, but I’ve enjoyed the process so much I’ve now embraced it completely.

Last month I pulled The House on Linden Way from the final publishing house where it was under consideration and used earnings from my cozy mystery to commission a book cover; Linden Way will be released on Vella this spring and then in ebook and print in July. I am so excited to share this news! When I made the decision it felt as though a weight had lifted, like I had space to breathe life into new ideas about my writing and publishing goals.

I used to dream about seeing my books on bookshelves and holding author events and making a living as a novelist. These dreams feel dated now. I love being a teacher and not having to rely on income from writing; I’ve participated in author events and mostly felt stressed out and uncomfortable; and while it was thrilling to see The Fourth Wall on shelves, the truth is that the shelf-life of a book is very short unless you sell a gazillion copies, and that leads me to the number one reason why traditional publishing is probably not a good fit for me: everything revolves around sales, which is to say that everything revolves around money, and the pressure is immense—the pressure to perform, the pressure to earn out your advance, the pressure to sell, sell, sell. And that’s not what I want.

What I want from my books is the personal value that comes from writing them and putting them out into the world. I want to focus on the joy of being a creator, because that’s such an amazing thing. The fulfillment for me is imagining a story, bringing it to life, crafting the best version that I possibly can, and then letting it go. The rest is icing.

This is my year of rediscovering the total creative freedom that comes from detaching your work from external validation or numbers. It feels like a new beginning. I have so many ideas for stories and I can’t wait to write them and try new things and maybe fail but learn and grow and get better and just keep going. I want to stay passionate. I want to have fun. I want to create and let that be enough. These are the things that dreams are made of.

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