I have an article in this issue of The Writer, which you can get in the magazine section of your local bookstore. It’s about product placement in books. How often are publishers putting paid mention of a product in books?…
Summer Activities List (Updated): Hiking Tennis Blackberry picking Listening to live music Canoeing/kayaking Picnics Something involving a fire on a beach and hot dogs Going on a boat Wine tasting Art galleries Daytrips (Gualala/Mammoth Lake) A couple of weeks ago,…
A few things I am thinking about lately: In the early 1900s, L. Frank Baum was releasing one Oz book every year. (So was Beatrix Potter.) I wonder if that was a bit like the Harry Potter books today? Did…
My grocery bill has dropped significantly. The reason? Squash. I have so much squash right now, it’s not even funny. The zucchini plants are probably producing a zucchini a day at the point. If I leave them go, I end…
I got Jane Austen-ish spam in my e-mail box this morning: Lady Amanda Williams. 52 Oxford Street, England. Here writes Lady Amanda Williams, suffering from cancerous ailment. I was married to Sir Richard Williamsan Englishman who is dead. My husband…
I have a couple of articles coming out. In the most recent issue of Bay Nature, I wrote an article looking at the Pacific leatherback turtle. This amazing turtle–the biggest turtle in the world, in fact–migrates through the Bay Area…
I have an article in the most recent North Bay Bohemian on ICE’s raids of Marin County apartment complexes. If you haven’t heard, ICE is sweeping Bay Area apartment complexes to arrest illegal immigrants, but they are also using the…
Are our cosmetics safe? Some people say no. Increasingly, experts are looking to the chemicals in make-up for the answers to cancer rates and other health problems. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about–especially if you don’t wear…
Dear Friends, I hope you can make it to the Word Pirates reading tomorrow night. Marcia and I have been working really hard to make it awesome. I will be reading an essay. Here are the details: Petaluma, Calif., May…
My book review of Marya Hornbacher’s Madness: A Bipolar Life is up at PopMatters. Excerpt: In 1998, Marya Hornbacher wrote Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, about an eating disorder so severe, she whittled herself down to 52 pounds…