I’m so glad you found me. This is your site for news, information, progress on the series, accolades, opinions and rants (yes both Emma and her creator can be snarky at times), whines, and the sharing of important information. Let’s get to know each other better. Stick around and enjoy the ride, and please feel free to contact me by leaving comments on the blog page.
As an author, I love nothing more than to write. But once a book is published, it needs to be shared. Please pre-order your copy of The Man Who Wasn’t There, or catch up on Emma’s adventures in The Difficult Sister” or it’s prequel, “An Unholy Alliance” today. You can order ALL THREE at a discounted price. And, I will be happy to personally inscribe any books ordered here. As always, THANKS for your support.
Every writer has a journey that each of their characters must take.
The State of the State Unless I break something between now and Tuesday morning, the die is cast. Long-awaited trip to Parts Unknown–for me at least. Wynne and I are flying out of Portland, taking a nonstop to Amsterdam, from there to Prague. I have never been there, but my late son Ian loved the […]
Read MoreThe State of the State I left y’all last month on the cusp of my trip to Tucson. If I went there to get sunshine, I was sorely disappointed. During my time there, more than two inches of water dumped from the sky–just like home. It was worse in Oregon, where there were snow flurries […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Yes, well, it’s been more like April than early February around here, which is more than a little scary. Trees are budding out, and I saw daffodils blooming today while on a walk. Eagles won the Super Bowl. Robert Mueller continues his silent quest. I head for Tucson in a […]
Read MoreThe State of the State The holidays are past. Thank goodness. They were fine, except for a few last minute glitches from the weather. Nothing serious. A little ice. Lots of good food and a bit of traditional music and bright lights. Significant infusions of butter. For me, looking back on the year that was […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Imagine a morning in early December, to paraphrase Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory”. “A coming of winter morning….” Today is such a morning, dry, with thin sunshine and a distinct chill to the air. Christmas season is in full swing. I have alerted my friends that there will be no […]
Read MoreThe state of the State A major birthday has come and gone. I, for one, am glad it’s gone. The new 40 this one is not. In three days, the weather has gone from sunshine and autumn leaves to dark skies and snow in the Cascades. October was filled with wonderful friends… and art. Portland […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Unapologetically late…as usual…I am fondly remembering a fabulous trip to Washington D.C. four years ago with three of my nearest and dearest. We spent the most fabulous week there exploring the city–mostly those little museums along the Mall, the Capitol, a reception in Sen. Jeff Merkeley’s office, trips to Olde […]
Read MoreState of the state The Newsletter is late this month because a great deal has happened. In early July, started a new job as Portland area brand representative for Dragonfly Nutrition LLC. So far, in the greater Portland area, their nutrition bars are available in New Seasons markets, with more locations to be added soon. […]
Read MoreLet me jump right in here. Summer is rushing past, but it’s August…time of getaways, time of the solar eclipse. We all want to hide out once in a while, and August is the time to do it. Here are some books for the journey. Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: […]
Read MoreMusings and reviews of theatrical plays.
Two men walk into a bar. It’s Belfast, 2009. In the play Quietly by Owen McCafferty, now playing at Corrib Theatre, barkeep Robert (Murri Lazaroff-Babin), a young man from Poland, is watching the World Cup on the telly and fielding texts from his girlfriend. Jimmy (Ted Rooney) is the first to arrive. He was raised Catholic, […]
Read MoreAlways…Patsy Cline, created and originally directed by Ted Swindley, is a big favorite at Tigard’s Broadway Rose Theatre Company. As of last Friday night, this is the third time Broadway Rose has welcomed it to the stage–and the show is better than ever. This also is the third time Nashville artist Sara Catherine Wheatley has […]
Read MoreWhen four white people–an earnest vegan, a militant new-ager, a frustrated history teacher, and a paid actress–get together to produce a culturally sensitive play about the first Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month…well, it gives one pause. In the World Premiere of Larissa FastHorse‘s fast-paced satire The Thanksgiving Play at Artists Repertory Theatre, four […]
Read MoreDeLanna Studi has a powerful story to tell. She currently is telling it on the stage of the Ellyn Bye Studio at Portland Center Stage at The Armory. The 41-year-old actress/playwright has written and performs And So We Walked, An Artist’s Journey along the Trail of Tears. Studi is Cherokee. Actually, her mother is white, […]
Read MoreWhen I saw Stephen Adly Guirgis‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy, it put me in a New York state of mind. Now running at Artists Repertory Theatre, the play does not depict the New York of the Billy Joel song. There is nothing romantic about Walter “Pops” Washington (Kevin Jones) and the characters who […]
Read MoreAfter a long absence from its normal venue at 602 NE Prescott, Portland Playhouse returns to newly renovated headquarters with the exciting new musical, Scarlet. The book, music, and lyrics are written by Portlander Michelle Horgan, and this is the first staged run of this new work, which is a retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 classic The […]
Read MoreLove, loss, and magic mix it up in Andrew Hinderaker‘s The Magic Play which opened March 9 on Portland Center Stage at the Armory’s Mainstage. Directed by Halena Kays, The Magic Play is a theatrical hybrid. It begins as a magic show. A very good magic show. Ask the members of the audience who volunteered to be The […]
Read MoreAbout once every two years, Lakewood Theatre Company loses its collective mind. It has just happened again with their latest production, El Grande de Coca-Cola. Written by Ron House, Diz White, Alan Shearman, and John Neville-Andrews, this musical tour-de-farce owes much to its origin story in a Barcelona bar in the 1960s where House met a […]
Read MoreLove is so darned complicated. He loves her…she thinks he’s boring. She loves him…he loves someone else. They love each other…and then they don’t. A sweet and tender story about the many facets of love made it’s world premiere at Portland Center Stage’s Ellyn Bye Studio last week. Adam Szymkowicz’s Kodachrome digs into love’s many incarnations […]
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