I'm Free From THAT Distraction
At 2:00 this afternoon, Harry and I had plans to go out tonight. By 3:30, we had to admit I wasn't going to make it. Therefore, Harry won't be going either.I have an invisible chronic illness. Though there are hours and days I look well, twenty-four hours a day, every day, I feel as if I have the flu. And I rejoice in it.God gave me that gift last June, when Husband Harry and I had occasion to attend church with our youngest son, who lives in Denver. Who knows why the Lord chose that "when" and "where," but I asked Him again the question that had accompanied me every day since my illness flared in 1998, "Are You ever going to heal me?" That morning, He answered me, "

An Untraditional Thanksgiving
It's Wednesday; tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and there's much to be done to get ready. Except I won't be doing any of it.I won't be baking pies or thawing a turkey today. I won't be standing in line at the grocery store or cleaning the guest bathroom. Husband Harry won't make a last minute run to the store tomorrow because I forgot the whipping cream. No one's coming to the house tomorrow, because Husband Harry and I have a reservation at one of our local fine dining restaurants.This will be our third Thanksgiving at the restaurant we usually reserve for birthdays and anniversaries. The first time came about because two of our three sons lived out of state, and the thir

Biker Women — The Real Story
I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the documentaries and books that say the clubs beat and force their women into prostitution. Is that true, or is that just made up stuff to make the clubs looks bad?That was the question a reader asked me a few days ago. I thought others of you might be just as curious, so I'm replying here.Movies never portray outlaw motorcycle clubs (MCs) as they really are. Never. Not even Sons of Anarchy, which is a series on the FX Channel about an outlaw club.Books? Probably fairly accurate if it's nonfiction or a biographical account. A work of fiction — not a chance. Unless it's my book; as soon as I finish h

P.S. Do Men Fall In Love?
A couple weeks ago I asked the question, Do Men Fall In Love? And oodles of people, both men and women, commented. Unfortunately, most of them let it fly on Facebook, so you had to visit both locations to get the whole picture.A week later, I gave equal time with, Do Women Fall In Love? Not so many comments on that one. But unfortunately I'd altered my Blogspot and Facebook settings so that the full text of my post no longer appeared as a Note on FB. Only an announcement and link appeared, so you had to click over to Blogspot to read and comment. (Hmmm. Fewer comments, fewer readers? Not good.)Whatever the reason, I think the men got a bum rap. Not only

My Crit Partner — Friend & Someone to Play "What if?" With
I just got off the phone from talking to Meg Moseley, my crit (critique) partner. Every couple of weeks we set a date, 11 a.m. in Idaho and 1 p.m. in Georgia, to brainstorm scenes and characters in our respective WIPs (Work in Progress).She wrote to me a decade ago to tell me she enjoyed my first book, Airwaves. She told me she was regularly published in an Atlanta newspaper but was working on a novel. I replied to her, and something just clicked. We've been friends and crit partners since.We roomed together at the Colorado Writers Conference in 2007. When we weren't rushing off to workshops or the cafeteria, we spent time alone together, sitting against the headboar