It’s not really an excuse, but aside from art, my classes bored me stiff, even Spanish. The teacher had such a horrible accent, I could...

School starts mid-August, while it’s still hot and humid. Rose has a friend to walk with, the kid she met rollerblading, but Mom insists...

By the time we’re done with ice cream and goodbyes, it’s almost two o’clock. Rose and I wave at our friends until we can’t see them...

“It’s amazing how much junk there is in this house,” says Mom. I’m the one helping her sort through stuff in the attic, so she’s not...

Mary and I try to pretend we’re too old to be impressed by Disneyland, but it’s really amazing. The rides go on so much longer than...

Chapter 2—Dinner At least the secret seems to be something that makes both of my parents happy, so they can’t be telling us they’re...

A mountain lion could be out here, ready to pounce. They say you never know what hit you. But I’ve been out here plenty of starry nights...

I’m prepping to move – something I’ve done every few years for most of my kids’ lives. They’re all in their thirties now, so that’s a lot...

In the literary context, Merriam Webster defines heroine as “the principal female character in a literary or dramatic work” and they give...

It’s possible I’ll be asked to do a few more tweaks, but the screenplay I contracted to complete has gone through two major revisions and...

There’s a long tradition in literature of having a tomboy juxtaposed with a feminine girl. In the late 1800’s there was a series for...

Someone recently asked me what three or four films defined my life – took it new directions, made a lasting impact, that sort of thing....

Before computers, the difficult part of research was finding materials. As a kid, I had to ride a bus a half hour downtown to the big...

Last week I talked about the importance of celebrating others’ successes. It’s part of building a supportive community of writers. That...

I don’t remember exactly why he was at a table talking to the authors pitching their scripts, but I remember what the successful...

Where did you go to school? What did you study? What clubs did you join? Were you an officer or some other kind of leader of any group?...

My datebook’s a mess. I’ve been tracking what I do every day so I know where I’m spending time. It all goes onto a weekly chart that I’m...

Back at the end of December, I set my goals for 2018. Well, March is behind us – the end of the first quarter of the year, when...

As I write this, I’m in the middle of negotiations to write another screenplay for the company that optioned and produced Running Away....

I believe all writing is good practice for a writer. While my kids were growing up, I put aside “being a writer” for day jobs. However,...

At sixteen my plan was to spend my senior year of high school as an exchange student, then go to Northwestern for journalism and become...

Our inner dialogue has enormous impact on how we see ourselves, which in turn is reflected in what we do with our lives. The power of...

Last week, I explained the major differences between my first novel Running Away and the Lifetime movie made from it. The movie did a...

My next novel, which will come out later this year, is Peg’s Story: In Search of Self. It’s the story of the mother in my first novel,...