Tales from the Raven

A discussion about violence in fiction (specifically YA and Middle-grade) in the comments section of a post by agent Nathan Bransford has left me with the need toss my two cents out there.  Perhaps more than two cents.  I don’t often pull out a soap box, but this might be one of the times I do.  [...]

My body and brain are protesting the new school hours so this is going to be short…but I couldn’t pass up the chance to link to my first publication as Suzanne Warr–gotta love that Z!
You can read the The Immortal Horse here, on Every Day Fiction, and be sure to leave a comment!

The stuffed suitcases are still waiting to be emptied, but I’m finding that after a summer of packing and unpacking, they can be ignored rather nicely.  Give me another week or two, and they’ll just be another piece of furniture I walk around.
Maybe if I put up a few pics from the summer trips, I can [...]

Today the kids were stung by a jellyfish.  First the R girl started jumping about in the water and yelping, then two seconds later her brother hollered and tried to jump out of the waves.  Somehow I managed to miss it, which I personally have no problem with, though the kids thought it sad I couldn’t brag [...]

We’re delighted to announce the arrival of the first egg from our spring chicks!

We recently looked up the age that we could expect eggs, and figured theses pullets wouldn’t lay ’til the middle of August, so this was a fun surprise.  Of course, they couldn’t be accommodating and lay it in their nesting box…that would be sensible and [...]

We’re home, but still deciding how we feel about that.  For the most part I’m thrilled.  It was a fantastic adventure and wonderful visit to see family, but if it had gone on much longer I would have melted into a puddle of sludge.
Bloody sludge.
I swear we signed up for the non-violent vacation, but before [...]

We love to hate our dentists, but I for one am really glad they’re there and can make tooth problems go away.  Of course, asking that the problem go away may be a tad too open-ended…today at the pioneer heritage village (circa 1860’s) on the wall in the blacksmith shop was a sign offering tooth [...]

We made it safely to our first stop on the road west–the lovely St. Louis.  Yesterday we defied the summer heat and chilled with our black and white feathered friends at the St. Louis zoo,
then finished up an evening out with family at the one and only spot for truly divine frozen custard–Ted Drews.

A relatively busy night, [...]

Tomorrow, bright and early, we roll out the door and begin the first marathon day of our cross-country trip.  I’ve said no to the over-ripe bannanas which thought they should be made into muffins before we leave.  I told the turkeys and chickens no when they begged to have free range of the pasture while we’re gone.  [...]

“Mom, there’s a copperhead in the garden.”
That got my attention, and got me off the phone.  A smart tactic if the kids just wanted to give me a scare, but it turns out they were right.  A copperhead must have been prowling in the pasture last night, and got himself tangled in the deer netting.  [...]