This semester, I’m teaching a humanities course, and my class is writing a credo based on NPR’s series This I Believe (www.thisibelieve.org). I was so intrigued with their responses that I decided to share mine here:       Five years ago, my husband and I were sitting in a room, waiting for our…

January is the time of year when we’re at our best: we’ve made resolutions, and we’re doing our darnedest to stick to them. Hands down, it should be my best month for working out, so why hasn’t it been? Truth be known, I’m not much of a fitness enthusiast. I like to walk my dog when…

Christmas is a very special time for me; it has been since I was a little girl. One of my favorite childhood memories is putting up lights with my dad. We had a beautiful house with a street-facing living room window, and around it, we would tack lights. It wasn’t like the houses you see…

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, there are two things on my mind: buying the turkey and cooking the turkey. But first, let me remind you that a couple eBooks of An Act of Murder are still up for grabs at my Amazon giveaway—no poultry skills needed to enter! https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/bad03b10c9775048 The idea of the Thanksgiving…

It’s hard to believe the day I’ve been waiting for has finally come! Just over a year ago, Camel Press accepted An Act of Murder for publication. In that year, so much has changed. I went from thinking the book was ready to knowing it was ready. Little did I realize then that quite a…

Fall is my favorite time of year. In South Dakota, the seasons change like traffic lights, from green to gold to red. There isn’t any in between; one day it’s so hot your tank top feels too thick, the next, you can’t imagine why you didn’t break out the fuzzy coat. The change became clear…

I confess: I’m suspicious of labels. It’s been my experience that when I start labeling things, I miss out on the nuances of the thing I’m labeling. So up until last weekend, I was hesitant to call my novel a cozy mystery, for if I called it a cozy, would readers expect recipes and be…

It’s July, and for a writer who is also a teacher, summer means work. It’s the time of year when I don’t have to worry about lesson plans or papers and can focus on writing new material. Unfortunately, summer doesn’t signify the same thing to my children. For them, summer is a time to swim,…

So what do mystery lovers do on their days off? They drink wine and solve crimes! Recently, I attended a murder mystery dinner show at Calico Skies Vineyard and Winery. If you haven’t been to Calico Skies, and you live in or are traveling to northwest Iowa, you should plan a visit this summer. A…

Welcome to my new website and blog. I’m so excited to be launching my debut novel, An Act of Murder. It is the first book in my new mystery series being published by Camel Press (Seattle, Washington). The protagonist, Emmeline Prather, is an English professor on the small (fictional) campus of Copper Bluff. I also…