When you get a new tech, what's the first thing you do?

So I got a new toy for Christmas. My parents gave me an original iPad mini. Now I do love my android phone, my windows convertible, my crazy gear watch, but I'm not set in any particular camp. So yes, I now have an iPad to use as well. I like to write on my windows computer, to edit on a tablet with a stylus, and to blog etc on all the rest. So which will I use the most? I don't know yet!
And the first thing I do one them all is personalization. I change the wallpaper, the keyboard, the app order, and pretty much anything else that I can!

What is your favorite tech to use?

A happy treat for the holidays

I was celebrating Christmas with my in laws on Sunday when one of my mother-in-law's good friends called her and told her that my book was in the Louisville Courier Journal.  I was surprised, to say the very least.  I hadn't heard anything about it.  I watched as my family dug into the paper to pull out the Arts section.  There was the article, Favorite Reads From Local Book Connoisseurs.  And there was my book, the Parrot Told Me, placed in the same list as Sue Monk Kidd and other esteemed authors.  I just stared at it.  I was so excited, so thrilled to learn that my book had inspired such a wonderful review.  It is such an honor to be given this place on the list, and I am so grateful to all that have supported me, most especially Karen Eldridge.  This was one Christmas gift that I will treasure throughout the year!


Favorite Reads From Local Book Connoisseurs

Christmas traditions

I am, with no possible doubt, extremely sentimental.  I love the Christmas season in part because of all the lovely traditions that our family has developed over the years.  It started with my grandparents, Anise cookies cut out, baked and iced, or elaborate Christmas trees dripping with tinsel and angel hair.  It continued with my own parents and in laws, Christmas Breakfast with all the cousins, watching Christmas movies, going to Mass, and eating pretty much all day long.  Now with my own kids, we blend all of these precious times together.  I can't give up a single one of them.  For me, it is the heart of the season, the family, the memories, the celebration of what God has given us.  May we all remember the real reason behind the traditions, and value this time for what it means to our souls.

Christmas gifts, anyone?

I do love a good book.  The only gifts I love more than electronics, on which I can read books, are actual books (oh, and gift certificates for books)!
I think it's fair to say that every writer is a reader first.  We began reading early, then started thinking of our own stories.  We started sharing our stories with friends, and it became a necessity to write them down.
Finally we got them published.  But by then, it was just a small part of our whole reading/writing experience.  Then came the sharing.  We wanted others to read our stories, to enjoy them! 

We love a good book, a library, a bookstore, a coffee shop, a stack of magazines, anywhere that we can immerse ourselves in our favorite story.
Give a book for Christmas!  Make a writer happy!