Week four in the LifeBooksWriting author blog challenge unveils the best subject, the one I take the most care with: character inspiration. Of course, even this phrase has more than one definition. I take it to mean how I’m inspired to create fully rounded characters—the people in my dark tales set in mundane settings, usually,…
Here I am, week two of the #LifeBooksWriting challenge, and today’s topic is a bullseye. Straight into the center of my very being, who I am, what I strived for most of my life. If you’ve heard this tune before, bear with me, please. Books are the most important material possessions I ever knew as…
There’s a cool site called Goodreads . . . and it may be my favorite site because it centers on books and the people who love reading books. Too many to mention (millions?), all kinds of books in varied genres are described there, and people are welcome to read and recommend good books to their…
My first book, Sandcastle and Other Stories, was published by Green Darner Press—please check out the beautiful paperback they created; it’s perfect for all readers from your literary hound to suspense junkies, thriller chillers, New Yorker types, down to high school short story lovers—and the responses I received over the past two years were energizing…
Well, this curious day has finally arrived: my second publication, The Conversationalist, a literary suspense eNovella, was published this very morning by Green Darner Press. The Conversationalist is a tale of yearning, a family struggle, a secret, attraction denied, and the singular dating style of a resident of Fidalgo Island with the name of Patrick.…
One of the most surreal moments of my life happened last year when the Green Darner Press publisher called and wanted to meet with me to talk about working together as a team to produce future work–the end result? Sandcastle and Other Stories. Here is the new logo for Green Darner Press. The Green Darner…
In Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar’s own words from her Acknowledgements page: This collection began as a whim while I was a graduate studying literature at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. I took a creative writing seminar as an elective because I’ve always been an avid reader and, as I told the group of…
Zippy and Kipling are buddies now, and Zippy protects her from too aggressive dogs at the dog park, makes sure others don’t step over his imaginary line. Dancing With Kali is a work in progress, and not fully formed yet. I like the idea of a kid who wants to run away but for different…
I love sharing the Kipling puppy love as much as possible, and it has been quite a long time since her growing cuteness has graced A Writer’s Life Blog. Hopefully these photos will make up for any lost cheer. Eartha Kitt’n was getting over an eye infection and loved to rest on a guest bed.…
The official book trailer for Sandcastle and Other Stories is ready to unveil. My father painted this New Jersey beach scene as part of his Boardwalk series, actually set in the 1930s. In many of the figurative work he loved to insert a family member. In this painting, my mother is there in the bottom righthand…