Tuesday, October 25, Amazon is holding a one-day flash sale of only $0.99 for the Kindle edition of Sita and the Prince of Tigers. The number of books sold in the first 24 hours determines whether the title will rise or fall in Amazon’s rankings, and decides whether...

Have you ever been quite worried or uncertain about an approaching event that you ended up feeling pretty happy about? I don’t know about you, but it’s happened to me on many occasions. I wouldn’t say it’s the story of my life or anything, because sometimes the...

So the lantanas were nearly gone, and the African daisies contained. I had planted a couple of salvias, but they could hardly be seen because of the cosmos that kept growing (almost six feet now) and that were providing so much shade that the salvias had become...

I’m just a sucker for anthropomorphizing. I know that animals and insects and plants (and certainly inanimate objects) don’t think and react like humans do. Nevertheless, ever since I was that imaginative child watching clouds and constructing stories around them, I...

A big thank you for voting on the cover of Sita and the Prince of Tigers. Of course I was on pins and needles waiting for the decision to be made. Although I thought both were fabulous, I felt the one chosen more clearly represented the core of the book, as well as...

Please help me by voting!

My truth about spring is that I wish it would never end. I’d like to see a full twelve months of spring and here’s the reason why. It’s just more beautiful. Way more beautiful. I live in Southern California and the hills around us are brown nearly all the year. But...

I’ve never been one for getting up early—willingly, that is—at least not for the kind of day that is like every other day. It we are birding internationally, and the guide says we will need to leave the lodge at 4:30 am, I don’t have any trouble getting up at all....

The primary election in California is happening today, but I’ve already voted, and here’s the acknowledgement that I did.  Of course, I voted—I always do. I’ve voted in every election ever since I was a child. “What are you talking about?” you ask. “Children don’t...

When I taught children’s literature (either classic or modern), I always took a survey the first day. I asked what books had already been read that were favorites, and then we talked about why the students had been drawn to these particular books and why they...