Originally posted on Between the Beats:
As we come to the end of October and fall begins to take hold of those of us here in the United States I want to take the time to reflect on Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Personally I don’t think one month is enough time to focus on this devastating international problem. Domestic Violence is not relegated only to… Continue reading Domestic Violence Awareness
Trigger warning: This article contains accounts of domestic violence. The timeline is blurred, but the results are the same. In 2013, I took in a stray. This stray came in the form of a house-hopping, shaggy haired guitarist who I worked with serving tables. I was in nursing school and admired his “didn’t-give-a-damn” attitude and lack of obligations to anyone but himself. The fact that… Continue reading bruised.
This has been a long week. I have thought about this post and whether I would be able to write it. Much of what has been in the news brings back memories of my own life, as a female child, a teenaged girl, and a grown woman. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony today brought everything to a head. Perhaps what happened to me was not as devastating … Continue reading Me Too
I was attracted to “The Battered Wife And Her Five Little Kids All Dressed In White”, a work of non-fiction by George Garrigues, because I was a battered wife for ten years. The fact that these events took place in the early 1900’s piqued my curiosity. I wondered how different things were in those days. This is the story of Margaret Claire Beutinger and her husband, … Continue reading “The Battered Wife And Her Five Little Kids All Dressed In White” by George Garrigues
When my son was born at 28 weeks gestation, my husband and I were completely unprepared. Being a first time mother and having a perfectly healthy pregnancy up until the day my water broke (in the middle of the psychiatric hospital in which I worked), we had not planned for a situation in which my son would spend his first seven weeks post-birth in the NICU, away from his… Continue reading 5 Things to Expect as the Parent of a Preemie
Every year around the first week in September, my sister and I take a short trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her birthday is September 1st, and it’s a “girls weekend” birthday celebration. We’ve always managed to dodge hurricanes. And since that is hurricane season I’d say we’ve been fortunate. This year as we prepared for our trip we learned that Hurricane Florence was bearing … Continue reading Hurricanes, Margaritas, and Caffeine
Your bed lies empty by the door. I don’t have the heart to move it. I try…oh, I try. But if I do, it means you’re really gone. You can’t be really gone. The silent air suffocates me. Air that once carried the pitter patter of warm puppy paws across the floor boards, the clanging of dog tags as you’d stretch and shake a long… Continue reading Empty.
Maze Master by Kathleen O’Neal Gear fulfills my requirements for a great read. Brilliantly linking the past with a possible future, she lays the groundwork for a thrilling and terrifying apocalyptic journey. At first, I was slightly daunted by the scientific and mathematical references in the story. But, Gear skillfully provides plenty of clarification for even the most intimidated reader. Gradually linking what at first … Continue reading “Maze Master” by Kathleen O’Neal Gear
Thanks to Karen Mossman, an accomplished author and blogger, for her wonderful review of “Stolen Gypsy”. It’s always a great compliment when an author I admire likes one of my books! Continue reading Stolen Gypsy
I must confess; I’m a huge fan of Alexis Alvarez. Her books always grab me from the first paragraph. Hammered is no exception. As soon as Talia and Dane meet, the reader will feel the electric sparks jump off the page. They have separate agendas, goals that are important to them. But those goals conflict like oil and water. Dane is the foreman of a … Continue reading Hammered: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Hard n’ Dirty Book 5) by Alexis Alvarez
I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
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