The Catalysts Book III Title Reveal!

by with No Comment CatalystEnvironmentExtraterrestrialsPrecipiceScience StuffThe FieldWriting

Title Reveal!!!

Book III in The Catalysts Series title is…

Precipice!!

It’s an apt title because in the story (and in real life?) humanity is on the precipice of disaster or salvation due to Climate Change and the havoc our activities are wreaking on Earth. Marcie and Eric and their friends are trying to be Catalysts for change with the help of other-worldly beings. I think you’re going to love it!

I’m working with my publisher, Brown Books Publishing, to come up with a release date. It’s still in the revision phase but getting closer to completion. I’ve done five (!) rounds of revisions already and it’s out with Beta-readers at the moment. After this round of revisions, it’ll be off to Brown Books for two to four more passes of revisions and corrections. Whew!

Hopefully, Spring 2023 release!

Signs and Messages from the Universe

I’m reading Signs – The Secret Language of the Universe by Laura Lynne Jackson. It’s about how our loved ones communicate with us from the other side and how we’re all connected – through the collective consciousness (read about it in my books). My mom passed away 12 years ago and sends me messages all the time. I decided to ask her to send me a sign – a blue hummingbird.

She loved hummingbirds and the color blue. It’s early in the season and we don’t have our hummingbird feeders our yet and haven’t seen any around the house. I was checking out at the dentist later that morning and on the partition between me and the front desk staff was a decal – of a blue hummingbird!

I relayed the story to the staff, and they gave me the decal. It’s on the window of my office now to always remind me of my mom and how she’s still around on the other side helping me and guiding me.

Do you receive signs and messages from the Universe?

Check out The Catalysts series here!

Take care and keep reading!

The Catalysts Series – Book III

by with No Comment CatalystWriting
Book III First VERY Rough Draft

The first draft of Book III in The Catalysts series is done! Over 97,000 words – 340 pages. I’m actually through with the first editing pass thanks to input from the editorial staff at Brown Books. Revising is sooooo much easier than writing from scratch; at least for me. Once I have my world and story built, I can move around in it and make changes. But not right away. I need a second set of eyes to look at it and tell me areas that need work. I just can’t see it right away as I’m too close to the project. Once I get the feedback, though, it becomes obvious to me what I need to do and I’m off to the races. Thank you to Sterling for her stellar input! It’s such a gift to have the support of my team at Brown Books!

Book III is different from the previous two as it’s from both Marcie and Eric’s perspectives. The two storylines are separate but concurrent and connect at points throughout the book. It’s almost like writing two novels. So at about page 310 I realized I was nowhere near being done. I could have gone on for another 300 pages. That means Book III ends in a cliff hanger for both storylines and ideas for Book IV are already percolating in my mind. I’d hoped to get a bit of a break from writing, but the muse is working in my subconscious! I’ll be back at writing on Book IV as soon as revisions on Book III are complete.

Writing for me is a lot like tapping into the flow of consciousness that my characters experience. It’s as though the story is already there and I’m uncovering it like an archaeologist. Not to compare myself to Michaelangelo, but I think he said the statues he created were already present in the marble and he was simply revealing them. I totally understand that.

I also sometimes feel like I’m getting assistance from my mom, who’s on the other side. She was a lover of words and a writer in her own right. Maybe she’s my ‘ghost-writer’? 🙂

Here’s the first page so far – revisions will still happen as the manuscript will go through three or four more editorial passes before it’s complete. What do you think?

I have a couple of ideas for the title but I’m not ready to reveal them just yet. Maybe I’ll do a reader poll.

We’re looking at a Spring 2023 pub date. Fingers crossed!

Science and Spirituality

by with No Comment CatalystScience StuffThe FieldThings That Occur to Me

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. ~ Carl Sagan

This quote by Carl Sagan is NOT the one I chose for Catalyst, but I love it because it sums up my feelings about science and spirituality. To me, science doesn’t disprove or negate the possibility of a force greater than ourselves, which you can call God, spirit, the Great Mother, The Force or whatever you want. Science demonstrates an intelligent Universe. An intelligent design.

Richard Rohr, in a November 7, 2019 article entitled “The Field of Love” said this:

“The physical phenomenon of quantum entanglement is a wonderful illustration of the interconnected nature of reality, both spiritual and material. Allow me to try to explain in layperson’s terms: In quantum physics, it appears that one particle of any entangled pair “knows” what is happening to another paired particle—even though there is no known means for such information to be communicated between the particles, which are separated by sometimes very large distances. [1] Perhaps we could compare this to phenomena such as bilocation, mental telepathy, providence, or synchronicity.”

One of the ideas behind The Field is that we’re all connected through this Universal Energy Field or the Collective Consciousness. This field , or energy, flows through all of us and everyTHING in the Universe. Quantum physics proves that particles are connected at a subatomic level. The idea behind The Field is that we’re all connected at a human level. Is this field of energy what some would call God? I think so. What do you think?

We’re made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. ~ Carl Sagan

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’

The Secret Life of Trees

by with 2 Comments EnvironmentIndian SummerScience StuffThe Field

I’ve recently been revising my novel Indian Summer to add more conflict and mystical experiences. The story is about how Marcie tries to stop development of an old growth forest on the lake where her grandparents live.

A few weeks ago I went to a film festival sponsored by the Indiana Forest Alliance and connected with the Development Director, Sandra Messner. We had a great conversation which sparked some ideas that I plan to incorporate into the novel. The Alliance’s mission is “to preserve and restore Indiana’s native forest ecosystem for the enjoyment of all.” The Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ mantra is that “for forests to be healthy, they need to be logged” which does not support preservation of our old growth forests. Sounds like a good start for some conflict to develop!

I also ordered the book, The Hidden Life of Trees – What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, which arrived yesterday. I’m super excited to read it. The inside flap says,

“…trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers.”

This begs the question of whether trees are sentient beings. In The Field I explore the Universal Energy Field and Collective Consciousness as they relate to the interconnectedness of humans, but what about other living (and even non-‘living’) entities like animals and plants (or the Earth itself)? Are they connected? Do plants have feelings? There is another book that looks interesting on this subject The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Thompkins and Christopher Bird. In her book, The Intention Experiment, Lynne McTaggart cites experiments by Cleve Backster showing that plants react to human intentions.

Research is one of the best parts of writing. The idea that plants are sentient beings and have feelings and react to danger and human activity is super intriguing! Can’t wait to learn more and incorporate it into Indian Summer.

The Indiana Forest Alliance aims to preserve forests for the enjoyment of all. In Japan, the practice of ‘Forest Bathing’ is widely practiced. Spending time in nature is scientifically proven to improve your health. I’ve even read that some physicians are prescribing time in nature as treatment. This is one of the reasons that I incorporate environmental themes in my novels. The natural world is beautiful, awe-inspiring, priceless and feeds our souls. We must be the Earth’s caretakers, not exploiters.

Premonitions and Intuition

by with No Comment Science StuffThe FieldThings That Occur to Me

Have you ever had a thought or feeling about something that later came true? Did you realize what it was at the time? If you had known that it was a premonition would you have acted differently?

I recently had two separate traumatic occurances where I had a premonition about them beforehand. It wasn’t as though I ‘knew’ what was going to happen, more like a fleeting thought crossing my mind that I remembered after the event.

The first was a car accident. I had been driving all around central Indiana a day in mid-December and was headed home. It was early evening – dark and raining. Visibility was bad and I was concerned about getting into an accident. I had a fleeting thought that I might get rear-ended, but it was just that – a fleeting thought. It occurred to me and then I moved on to other thoughts. I had been in a rear-end collision on a similar dark and rainy night in October, so I attributed it to that connection.

The car in front of me stopped on the four lane, busy road to turn left. I wasn’t able to pull past her into the right lane so I waited for her to turn. After a few moments I heard a screeching sound and then BOOOOOM! someone crashed into me from behind hitting me so hard that I crashed into the car in front of me and hit my knees on the dashboard. It wasn’t until later that I remembered the fleeting thought of the rear-end collision. Could I have avoided it if I had known it for a premonition? I’m not sure what I could have done.

The second premonition was about my nephew breaking his arm. Over Christmas I went to California to visit my brother and his family and to watch his two kids while he and his wife took a little ‘adults only’ vacation. My niece and nephew and I were having a great time on our ‘Auntventures’ going to museums, roller skating and going to the movies and the library – they love to read!! My brother suggested I drop them off at a bouncy-house play center on Friday evening so I could have a few hours to myself. I remember thinking – ‘Ben is going to break his arm’. Again, it was hardly even a solid thought, just a fleeting idea. I dropped them off and went into the little town to shop and have dinner.

Midway through my dinner and into my second glass of wine I got the call. I thought – ‘here it is’ – before I answered. Ben may have broken his arm, they said. When I got there I was met with a fire truck, ambulance and police car all with lights flashing. He did in fact break his arm pretty badly, but I’m happy to report that the cast was just removed last week and he is healing beautifully!

What if I had paid closer attention to my intuition or premonition and not taken them to the play center? Would Ben not have broken his arm? Probably. Was it really a premonition or just me thinking of a possible likely scenario? The doctor who treated him said they see kids with broken bones from those bouncy houses all the time.

In The Field, Eric has frightening dreams that he doesn’t know what to do with. Is he connecting with The Field? The Collective Consciousness? Was I? What do you think?

The Field Publishes April 23rd!

by with No Comment Science StuffThe Field

The Field pub date is April 23rd! Pre-order your copy today!“


 “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.”

Can we really all be connected by the same energy field, the same power, the same consciousness? As Eric Horton learns more about these concepts – in his science classes, from the experiments his girlfriend’s father is conducting, even through his own bizarre experiences on the soccer field he still finds it all hard to believe. But he must open his mind to all the possibilities before him if he is to succeed in saving what he could never forgive himself for losing.



Thoughts are Things and the Akashic Record ~ Excerpt from THE FIELD

by with No Comment The Field

Excerpt from The Field when Eric and Renee are discussing how ‘thoughts are things’ and the Akashic Record.

“What do you mean exactly that ‘thoughts are things,’ and what is the Akashic Record?” [Eric asks.]

She sighs. “I didn’t really want to get into this right away, but here goes. Just remember that you asked me. Thoughts are things means that our thoughts are energy; both creative energy and electrical energy. So when someone says that thoughts have power, they mean that your thoughts have the power to turn what you are thinking into reality and also that thoughts literally have power in that they are a source of energy that can be measured.”

“But everyone knows that thoughts can turn into something real. First you have an idea, then you act on the idea and then it’s real.” I know this isn’t what she really means, but I just can’t help playing devil’s advocate.

“That’s true, but the theory is that if a person is able to harness their thoughts and access the Collective Consciousness to focus on a goal or objective, then the step where action is required is skipped. The thought itself is what makes it happen.”

“As in ‘mind over matter?'”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“I guess I already know that on some level because of what happens sometimes to me in the goal and what I’ve read about studies done with athletes. So much of sports id mental. There was one study where they used three groups of athletes training for the same event.” I drum my fingers on the table, trying to recall the article. “Two of the groups used visualization and one just trained. The groups that visualized winning both performed better than the one that only trained – even the group that only visualized and didn’t train at all. They concluded that visualizing success was as important as training, if not more so. Still, the Collective Consciousness? What’s that?”

“The Collective Consciousness is all of the thought energy from everything in the Universe, like an underlying current of energy connecting everything together, and the Akashic record is like a vast library of all the thoughts and information that every existed or ever will exist.” She stops and looks at me for my reaction. I look down at her hand still clasped in both of mine. Her nails are perfect ovals and the skin covering the tiny bones and muscle and sinew that make up her hand is smooth and unblemished. I am reminded of how amazing even the things we take for granted really are. The human hand is at once beautiful and miraculous. It’s miraculous that we even exist at all, really. That the world exists. How different is it to consider that there could be truth to what she’s saying?

Thoughts are things. Currents of energy. A library of thoughts.

theFieldfrt2final

“You could be tapping into the Collective Consciousness” ~ Dr. Auberge to Eric in THE FIELD

by with No Comment The Field

Eric and Dr. Auberge discuss the Collective Consciousness in The Field.

“It could be instinctive athleticism or that you are subconsciously reading the behavior of the other player, or,” Dr. Auberge pauses for emphasis, “you could be tapping into the Collective Consciousness.”

“What’s that?” I feel like The Twilight Zone theme song should be playing in the background.

“It’s called many things; the Akashic Record, the Universal Field of Consciousness, and by some, God. Many Eastern religions believe that we are all connected to each other and to what you could call God or higher consciousness by our thoughts and that thoughts have power, or even energy. Science is just now recognizing the power of thought. As you said, visualization is used frequently in sports, but there is much more to it than that.” I’m thinking that I am in store for a really out-there conversation with Dr. Auberge, but I’m saved when Renee comes into the kitchen and puts her hand lightly on my shoulder. I didn’t hear her come in so it startles me a little. The conversation with Dr. Auberge was getting pretty intense. At some deep level it resonates with me, but at the same time, thinking that there’s a Universal Field of Consciousness seems straight our of a science fiction movie. It’s hard to believe it could actually be real.

theFieldfrt2final