The Magic Of The Sea

  a play of shadows

Halibut Point is a state park in Rockport, MA. Giant slabs of granite jut into the ocean, surrounded by thick and thorny bayberry, greenbriar, and shadbush. No need to emphasize the major inspiration factor this represents for me. Its beauty is breathtaking, and it is there that I often go to refill. The other night, my friends (Magali and Thibaud—here for the summer from France) and I went for a picnic to catch the spectacular sunset. 

It was a mini celebration of sort: I finished the revisions on MIST (YAY!), and my manuscript has left the confines of my laptop and started venturing into the world and into the hands of unknown readers (GAH!).

What better place than Halibut Point to scatter my wishes into the waiting arms of the ocean?  "Let go, let go," the waves said as they crashed against the rocks as thoughts of my book flooded my mind.
"Let go, let go," bristled the heath kissed by the incandescent light of the vanishing sun.

And so I did, and reveled in the company of my friends and the magic of the sea.

What about you? Do you have a special place where you love to go?

Taking A Breather

Hi there! Remember me? I'm the girl who started this blog...Ahem. I know, I know...I've been neglecting it on a grand scale. But I have a very good excuse: I am knee deep in revisions and have had no time for anything else (beside work that is). Another 2-3 weeks, I estimate, at which time I will post more consistently. I promise. Until then, I leave you with these 2 guys whom I recently discovered and who are absolutely fantastic... Enjoy!

I Love Writers

This weekend, I attended my first NESCBWI conference in Springfield, MA. It was fun. It was stimulating. It was mind-boggling. In fact, I'm still riding the high today...There is nothing more comforting than the company of people who share the same neuroses, are plagued by the same doubts, feel overwhelmed most of the time trying to write and live and work. But most of all,  I feel lucky to be part of such a supportive and awesome writing community. Thank you, NESCBWI, for organizing such a fabulous conference!

Reagan Leigh, me and Lisa Kramer

Let's Not Be So Hard On Ourselves

Hi and Happy May Day!

Birds are chirping, trees are budding and flowers are sticking their cute little heads out...Spring has arrived! Everywhere I go, I see people wearing shorts and sandals, and though the temperature is still only in the low 60s, everyone's acting like it is 80 degrees out there. Which got me thinking of a conversation I overheard the other day while waiting in line. Two women were lamenting that they weren't ready for Spring/Summer. Their minds were but not their bodies. They both wanted to lose some weight before swimsuit season, their skin was too white and everything else about them was wrong...too little this, not enough of that...and on and on.

We are our worst beauty critics. I'll be the first to admit it. And we rarely see ourselves the way others see us. I came across this video and I found it very sad and oh so true. Take a look...

                                          So, guys, let's be kinder to ourselves....

What about you? Are you hard on yourself?

The Beginning (or is it the End) of My Blog

My blog is finally here. Welcome! But...but..don't get too excited yet. I want this blog to also serve as my website, so before I can post some good stuff, I'm going to be busy writing a bio, a page about current projects, a page with contact info, etc. Bear with me; the good stuff is coming. I promise!