This month I had the unanticipated pleasure of running into someone I haven’t seen for a few years, my friend Melody Biehl. You can easily spot Melody in a crowd. She’s the energetic redhead wearing pink. We’ve known each other for ten years and often meet at western...

I’ve never been a joiner. At age seven I was kicked out of Brownies for insubordination. When I was twenty-something, personality assessment tests administered by prospective employers determined that I was a “maverick” employee, someone who consistently went my own...

My name is Grizelda Matley. If you are lucky enough to be reading this, you can see that I am a cat. A beautiful female tiger cat, to be precise. This blog is usually posted on Friday, but it’s early this week. My mom, aka Susan Matley, is at a writers’ conference,...

We’ve just returned from a 5-day book tour. Whew! I’m not using the royal “we”; my husband joined me on the trip to Western Washington and also in the readings. He brought much to the story-telling in his vivid portrayals of Ralph and Jim and inspired applause from...

It’s “back to school” month, a time of year that, for me, pulls up memories of new school supplies and cardigan sweaters that were just right in the morning but too hot in the afternoon. In grade school it meant long hours under the guidance of a lone teacher,...

    One of the benefits of being a writer is always having an excuse to read. Sometimes I’m focused on research for a story, sometimes I’m looking for the elusive “comp” title (meaning either comparable or competitive, depending on who you ask) for a book...