I entered the contest Pitch Wars in early August with a query letter, the first chapter of my novel, and a dream. On August 25, I was notified that one of my dreams had come true! I would be the recipient of the time and attention of not one, but two incredibly talented published mystery writers. They would spend...

I go to the ocean to find beauty. Everywhere I look here on the Big Island of Hawaii, crystal blue green waters lap against peppery sand and lava rock. Green turtles bob in the surf. Spinner dolphins play in the waves. Rainbows of hibiscus and tropical flowers line the beaches. Palm trees sway over head. I go to the...

Fearless used to be my middle name. I was 6. It was summer. There was a library in the town of Astoria, Oregon, and a movie that played at 11am every Thursday morning. There was a piano, an old man named Ed, and people waiting to be entertained before that movie started. Every time I saw Ed, he was dressed in a wool...

A few weeks ago my mother turned 90 years young. Amazing that you spend your whole life with someone, and you don’t realize that time is ticking away. One day you wake up, and you’re celebrating a life that has truly been lived. My father passed away, after 43 years of marriage, and when my mom was 66. They had just...

Two weeks ago, I was terrified. I had submitted the draft of my novel to a contest called Pitch Wars, where two thousand writers vied for the opportunity to have their work edited and presented to agents. Over the course of 8 years, I had written 4 novels, but every one of them sat in a drawer, unpublished. Until I...