Fun Facts

    • I’m the oldest of three children. My younger brothers used to call me “sarge.”
    • Those same younger brothers once chased me around the house with a kitchen knife. This was after they realized they didn’t have to do everything I told them and stopped being my personal slaves.
    • One of my brothers threw an empty beer can at me splitting my eyebrow and requiring stitches. I think I might have been yelling up the attic stairs at him. And, no, he hadn’t been drinking. It was the 70’s when kids started beer can collections of craft beers across the country. You couldn’t get them at any grocery or liquor store like you can now.
    • I once took a personality test for a job and the test scorer told my prospective boss that I could give a drill Sargent a run for his money. (I got the job!)
    • Another personality test I took said that I am ‘results oriented.’
    • My twenty-something son told me a few years ago to stop ‘trying to manage’ him. ~ ~ Do you see a pattern emerging?!?! Now that he’s on his own we don’t have that problem anymore. I’ve really tried to squelch this tendency in myself over the years, but it doesn’t seem to be working!! 🙂 If you want someone to boss you around, I’m your girl! (Although I choose to see this as a sign of my leadership skills and not inherent bossiness!!)
    • I like to make things. Especially using textiles – I sew, knit, felt – I love upcycling things from Goodwill into pillows, scarves, mittens, purses, etc.
    • I held the indoor record for the 220 yard dash – so long ago it was before metrics – at my high school for several years.
    • If I suddenly had  free day I would plan out what I wanted to do so I would be sure to do everything I wanted. I would even plan out my relaxation time.
    • I speak a little French from high school and whenever I travel to another country with a different language, no matter what the language is, I have an irresistible urge to speak French.
    • When I was in France years ago I gave a man helping us with a broken down car the okay sign…and he looked at me oddly. Apparently, in French it means ‘you suck’ or better yet ‘you’re an a-hole’. Nice way for me to thank him!
    • I don’t like to sit still and do nothing, so I often bring knitting with me.
    • I have boy/girl twins and when they were little people would ask me if they were identical…nooooo, one’s a boy and one’s a girl. Remember high school biology?
    • My freshman high school biology teacher told me I should be a nurse because I was doing so well in the class. When I came home and told my mom she said “You should be a doctor.” I have her to thank for always believing I could be anything I wanted to be. 🙂 That was the beginning of my love of science.
    • My senior high school Advance Placement biology teacher was what we used to call a ‘male chauvinist pig’. Another girl and I were doing extremely well in the class and he couldn’t deal with it, so he barely acknowledged us. We both scored 5’s on the AP exam. I still remember his face when we told him. Winning is the best revenge.

Here is the Real Bio

I haven’t always been a writer. Many writers kept journals when they were young and wrote stories and dreamed of becoming a writer. That wasn’t me. I don’t journal, I make lists. Lists of things to do, grocery lists, lists of ideas or topics, you name it. I keep a spiral notebook for each project. I also like pretty office supplies, like notebooks, pens and pencils and stickers and file folders. You’d think I’d be very organized, but it’s just a futile attempt to control the chaos!

I’ve always been a voracious reader. I’ve started getting books on tape to listen to while I’m driving – I drive A LOT! I also read books on my iPad, my iphone (in a pinch – its not my first choice) and of course REAL books. So many books, so little time!

I have a degree in biology and thought I would be a doctor at one point. My path didn’t lead that way, but science plays a big role in my writing. I think the author who influenced my writing the most is Madeline L’Engle who’s writing combined elements of science fiction and the spiritual/metaphyscial. All of my novels have an environmental theme and incorporate true science in addition to science fiction.  INDIAN SUMMER has an archeological and historical theme, and also an environmental conservation element. THE FIELD also has the environmental theme and delves into quantum physics and The Universal Energy Field (as well as high school soccer). I know, sounds thick, but it’s a good read! The third book, CATALYST, carries on with the environmental theme as it deals with fracking.

I started writing when my kids began reading and I rediscovered all the books I loved as a child and new books I’d yet to discover. I found myself developing stories of my own so I began writing novels for children and young adults. Images from my childhood growing up on Lake Michigan and the landscape of Indiana feature prominently in my novels.

I live in Indianapolis in a eclectic part of town called Broad Ripple. Lots of shops and restaurants, coffee shops and a few bars. I like traveling, gardening, reading YA novels, knitting, sewing, felting – anything to do with fiber arts – rummaging through junk shops, cooking, spending time outdoors and dancing!

Edited_Headshot_02 - Copy

Latest Knitting Projects

by with No Comment Crafts and Projects

In between revising Catalyst and the Book Tour for The Field I’ve been working on a few knitting projects. I love knitting because it’s a creative activity that’s portable that I can pick up and work on whenever I have a few free minutes and the urge to create. Here’s what I’ve been working on-

Boyfriend Scarf

For my boyfriend, Keith. The pattern is aptly named ‘Boyfriend Scarf!!

It was a quick and easy project to take on the road. The wool is washable and super soft!

Verdigris Sweater

I actually finished this sweater a few years ago and got the gauge TOTALLY wrong. It was HUGE!! I was so disappointed and didn’t have the heart to rip it out right away. Also, I loved the lace work I’d done for the back. I was ready to come back to it this summer and decided to put my sewing skills to work. I CUT the sweater down and machine sewed it back together! It worked! 🙂 It’s still on the large side, but wearable with skinny jeans.

Squares Afghan

This is my latest project and it’s really fun! I’m making it for my daughter and she picked the pattern and the yarn. I thought it was going to be difficult, but it’s easy and super fun to watch the squares develop.

What creative projects are you working on?

Are You a Wayshower?

by with No Comment CatalystEnvironmentThings That Occur to Me

There are a lot of negative things happening in the world today. Political turmoil, gun violence, environmental destruction, corporate greed, mental illness, homelessness, economic inequity…the list goes on. You get it. It’s easy to become discouraged about the state of our world and to despair that we’re moving in the wrong direction and placing value on the wrong things. I know many of my friends feel that way. But I feel hopeful.

Why am I hopeful? Because I believe that this up swelling of negative, even evil occurrences is causing an equal, or even greater up swelling of positivity in response.

After 9/11, one of the most horrific occurrences to happen in our lifetimes, there was a huge coming together of people from all walks of life. We saw the first responders rush in. I saw a story narrated by Tom Hanks about all of the commercial and private boat owners who mobilized to rescue hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers stranded on Manhattan after the attack. It brought me to tears. For weeks, even months, afterwards people were kinder to one another. Reaching out to help whenever they could. Of course there were also incidences of retribution against Muslim-Americans. I personally reached out to a Muslim family in my neighborhood to see if they were okay. They were okay and the father and I spoke at length about the tragedy of humans attacking each other over religion. He said “there is only one God” and I agree.

What I see happening now is people waking up. Looking for a better way to live, to BE. Martha Beck, author, life coach and speaker, calls it being a Wayfinder. The slogan for her Life Coach Wayfinder course is Find The Way. Be the Way. We are all yearning to connect with one another. To find a deeper meaning in our lives. I recently read a Time Magazine special edition on Happiness. One of the themes recurring throughout the entire magazine is that things and money don’t bring us happiness. Experiences and relationships bring us happiness. Our capitalistic quest for more is not feeding our souls. It’s trying to fill a bottomless pit that can never be satisfied.

It’s not hard to find people and businesses that are Wayshowers. Focusing on healthy eating, healthy living, exercise, helping others, caring for the environment, opposing corporate greed and individual violence and caring for those less fortunate than ourselves are themes that I see all around me. I’m especially encouraged by our young people. Just look at what David Hogg and the Parkland shooting survivors are doing to end gun violence. What Greta Thunberg is doing to bring attention to climate change. What Malala Yousafzai is doing for girls education. The fact that Marianne Williamson, a spiritual teacher, author and activist, is running for president on the politics of love and getting a lot of positive attention is encouraging to me and represents a signpost of the direction I hope we are headed.

In my novel, Catalyst – May 2020 Brown Books Publishing, Marcie Horton, her brother, Eric and their friends are catalysts for change. For bringing a new focus to our world. Are you a catalyst, a Wayshower? You don’t have to do big, splashy things to be one. Start where you are. Don’t use plastic straws. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Be kind. Pay it forward. Love one another. It all begins with you.

Summer of the Bike

by with No Comment EnvironmentOutsideTravel

This summer my boyfriend, Keith, and I have spent most weekends on a different biking adventure. Last weekend we went 17 miles!! That may not seem like much if you’re a dedicated biker, but for us it was a lot!

As you can see, I have a cruiser, or a town bike – comfy seat and wide handle bars. I have to admit that I bought it because of how it looks (I did try it out first to see if it was comfortable and it is!) The color is ‘Honey Dew’ and don’t you love my Nantucket basket?! It’s perfect for when we bike to the farmer’s market on Saturdays!

Our biking trips take us to a variety of places – the Broad Ripple neighborhoods in Indianapolis where I live or the Monon rail-trail. The best trips, though, have been the ones around Dayton, OH where my boyfriend lives and we bike along the trails next to one of the five rivers that surround the area. Here is some of the scenery we’ve seen.

Forest Stream
Cone Flowers
Wildflowers and Bees
Field of Thistles and Queen Anne’s Lace

I sold my house a few years ago and have been living in an apartment. I miss my perennial garden, so these flowers seen on our rides feed my soul!

Reflections in a Quarry Pond

Had lunch last Saturday at Sam and Ethel’s in Tipp City, OH. Fried bologna sandwich! What have you been doing to feed your soul and get out in nature this summer?

Barnes and Noble Grand Rapids2 (2)

The Book Tour Continues

by with No Comment The FieldThings That Occur to MeTravel

I’m back to scheduling author events for The Field Book Tour. Thank you Barnes & Noble for hosting all of my upcoming events!! Check out where I’ll be this Fall and stop in to see me if I’m in your town. I’m still adding dates through the end of the year.

Barnes & Noble

The Shops at Perry Crossing, Plainfield, IN

Saturday, August 17th ~ 2pm-6pm

Barnes & Noble Evansville, IN

Evansville, IN

Saturday, August 24th ~ 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Sci-fi event with author John Dyer, author of Silken Thread

Barnes & Noble Greyhound Pass

Carmel, IN

Saturday, August 31st ~ 11:00am to 2:00pm ~ Local Author Event

Rosaleen Crowley author of Point of Connection

Marian Webb Belts author of Ruby Heart

Barnes & Noble – Glenbrook Square Mall

Fort Wayne, IN

Saturday, September 21st ~ 1pm to 3pm

Barnes & Noble – Valparaiso, IN

Valparaiso, IN

Saturday, September 28th ~ 2pm to 5pm

Barnes & Noble – Charleston Town Center

Charleston, SC

Saturday, October 12th ~ 2pm to 4pm

Barnes & Noble – Louisville

Louisville, KY

Saturday, October 19th ~ 12pm to 2pm

Barnes & Noble – Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown, KY

Saturday, October 26th

We are all Intuitive

by with No Comment Science StuffThe FieldThings That Occur to Me

I’ve been doing quite a few radio interviews talking about The Field and talking with readers at my Author Events. Of course everyone wants to know what the story is about and where I got my inspiration.

When I tell them that I wanted to show how we are all connected through the Collective Consciousness and that we all have intuitive abilities EVERY SINGLE PERSON shares their own story with me about their personal experiences with intuition and premonitions.

One radio interviewer had a premonition about 9/11. Another one had an intuitive feeling about something that happened to her daughter. A reader shared a story about having a sudden feeling that her daughter needed to slow down or she would get a speeding ticket. When she called her daughter to tell her, it was too late – she’d just gotten a ticket!! A screen writer shared that he is familiar with the Zero Point Field and thinks its the next big topic in Hollywood – can you say movie rights?!?!? 🙂

I believe that we are all connected and intuitive. Do you have stories about your own experiences? I’d love to hear them!

Here’s a link to one of the radio interviews – Red River Radio ‘Tales From the Pages’

Catalyst to Publish in 2020!!

by with One Comment CatalystEnvironmentIndian Summer

I’m very excited to share that Brown Books Publishing has decided to publish Catalyst in 2020!! It’s the next book chronologically in the series after The Field and is also YA sci-fi.

As with my other books, there is an environmental theme. This time it’s fracking and climate change. I feel it’s an important book as these topics are so critical right now. Getting young people involved and aware is part of my personal mission as a writer.

Eric’s younger sister, Marcie, is the protagonist in Catalyst. It’s the summer before her junior year in high school. Eric and Renee are also featured ~ they’ve just graduated from high school. All three are on an archaeological dig in southern Indiana and discover that ‘Big Oil’ is planning to expand it’s fracking operations.

So excited to share this news!

Indian Summer will still be released as a prequel at some point, just not sure when.

THE FIELD – Soccer Field and Universal Energy Field

by with No Comment EnvironmentScience StuffThe Field

The title of my novel, The Field, has two meanings. The soccer field and The Universal Energy Field. Nikola Tesla postulated in the last century that there is enough energy in a cubic inch of space anywhere in the Universe to power New York City for a day. This field is also called the ‘Zero Point Field’. We know that the air around us is filled with energy waves or forces. Magnetic, sound, light, radio, television, microwave, radiation, etcetera. Most of these waves are outside the realm of human perception. However, we can measure them, and we know that animals can hear sounds that are imperceptible to the human ear, and we benefit from the action of these waves when we watch TV, use our cell phones or microwave our dinner.

Imagine if we could access the Zero Point Field as a totally clean, renewable energy source. No more drilling for oil or natural gas or mining for coal. No more burning fossil fuels and the resulting air pollution. No need for nuclear power and radioactive waste.

I’m a science geek and a passionate environmentalist. The Field includes an environmental theme comparing so-called ‘clean coal’ to wind and solar power and the idea of accessing energy from The Universal Energy Field.

Quantum Mechanics has demonstrated that there is no such thing as a vacuum or nothingness. The Universe is a sea of energy. Scientists are calling it ‘Dark Energy’, and while we don’t know exactly what it is, Einstein predicted its existence when he postulated using a ‘cosmological constant’ to explain the expansion of the Universe.

As Dr. Auberge says in The Field, “We have to set aside what we think we know about the world around us and open our minds to new discoveries. Just because you can’t see it and you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

catalyst1

Catalyst – WIP – First Page

by with 2 Comments CatalystWriting

The third book in The Field family is Catalyst. It’s written from Eric’s younger sister, Marcie’s perspective when she is 17 years old and Eric is 19 – two years older than in The Field. In Indian Summer, the first book chronologically, Marcie is 12 and experiences visions of a Native American girl guiding her as well as premonitions and synchronicities.

Here’s the first page of Catalyst. It went through about a dozen re-writes and this may not even be the final iteration. What do you think? Does it grab your attention and draw you in?

Catalyst

Chapter 1

I’ve had glimpses of something beyond my five senses. Usually it’s premonitions and intuition, but four years ago when I was in middle school I communicated with the spirit of a Native American girl. I want to experience that again, but I don’t know how. Sometimes she inhabits my dreams and I wake up wishing I could connect with her while I’m awake and wondering if I imagined it all in the first place. It feels like a door that was once open to me is shut and I don’t have the key. Thinking about it gives me a vague, unsettled feeling. It’s like something is missing from my life.

I give myself a mental shake and pull the door handle to get out of the car, determined not to give in to anxious thoughts. Hopefully the next few weeks will keep my mind occupied with other things.

We arrive at the Angel Mounds archaeological dig site in time for dinner. That’s when all the students in the field study are supposed to arrive for orientation and a ‘meet-and greet’ evening as my mom refers to it. It’s her dig. She’s an archaeologist at the University and I’ve been to several of her sites over the years, but this is my first time actually working on a site. Not bad for a summer job – at least that’s what I’m hoping. It’s unpaid, but still great experience. She was able to get all three of us – me, my bother Eric and his girlfriend, Renee – spots on the dig team.

 I’m checking out the people milling around the clearing when I see them. Their presence immediately commands my attention.

Most of the others are probably college students from the University, archaeology or anthropology students, doing a summer field study course, but these two are different.

The man suddenly turns and looks me straight in the eye. It’s as if he senses me looking at him, or thinking about him. Because that’s how it feels. Like he’s reaching out and touching my thoughts. I hear him say, ‘hello, Marcie’, not audibly, but inside my mind. I take a slight step back, startled, but hold his gaze and the connection between us. In my previous experiences I’d never heard words spoken. Just thoughts and feelings. He inclines his head toward me and touches the brim of his hat before returning to talk to his blond companion. I’m a little disturbed by the whole exchange. Something about him makes me uneasy. My skin shivers and I rub my arms to dispel the feeling. Who is this guy and how had he communicated with me?

I shift my gaze to the woman. Her caramel-colored hair is braided into a heavy rope hanging down her back and she’s gesturing in smooth, fluid motions as she talks. She gives the impression of being both still and animated, reminding me of a cat stalking its prey, immobile save for the twitching of its tail. Contained is the word that comes to mind. The way her eyes roam over the other waiting people, stopping only briefly to look at me, enhances the feline resemblance.

Radio, Readings and Fans

by with No Comment The FieldThings That Occur to MeTravel

On Tuesday, May 28th, Barry Eva interviewed me on his radio show A Book and A Chat. We had a blast connecting over soccer and all things metaphysical. Link here to listen to the full interview.

Women and Children First

Had a great author reading and signing on the 29th at Women and Children First in Chicago.

Reading THE FIELD at Women and Children First
Alex and Katie and their friends provided endless inspiration for THE FIELD while they were in high school!

Deerfield Barnes and Noble

Saturday, June 1st at another Barnes and Noble!

Loved meeting Martina at Barnes and Noble in Deerfield, IL! A new fan!
Connected with my high school friend Frankie!
Frankie gave THE FIELD to her husband – another new fan!!