Tales from the Raven

No pun intended, unless the reader is currently querying a humor novel.
After testing the waters with a few queries for The Popcorn Potion, I discovered a new and fascinating obsession: that of attempting to extract from a single nondescript sentence why oh why the rejecting agent would pass on my manuscript.  And without [...]

I came across this article on Yahoo, and took a trip down memory lane to the stint I did with the census back in ‘99.  The article emphasizes the sometimes unwelcome reception that one gets as a door-to-door census worker, and I can vouch for that.
As a young woman and an outsider in a rural area, I [...]

I know that I’m going out on a limb, here.  It’s extreme, and I freely acknowledge it.  But I like my art to be beautiful.
It can be strange, new, outside the box.  That’s okay.  But it can also put a spotlight on something that’s spoken to the human souls for hundreds of years and generations beyond time.  [...]

My favorite keepsake from our visit to Yellowstone is this great lunk of a key that I found on the ground in our campsite outside of West Yellowstone. I literally stumbled over it, and then began the process of making sure it was truly an orphan so I could keep it. Since our camp was [...]

I wasn’t sleeping anyway, so I started tooling around the internet and came across a blog or two on the subject of writing for money vs. writing for love.  Now, those who know me well are also aware that money is a strong movtivating factor in my writing.
At this point I pause to let the rotten [...]

They always say that truth is stranger than fiction, and these pics demonstrate that well.  If an author came up with these galaxies, plenty of critiques would deride them as impractical and way over the top.
Two favorites of mine are The Sombrero,

And Starry Night,

because it’s impossible to look at these galaxies without hearing the whisper of [...]

I packed six seven-ish year-olds around today, and also spent a couple hours with another troop of kids ranging from toddlers to ten year-olds.  The latest joke I was told?
Cow:  “Would you like to buy a hamburger, Sir?”
Man:  “Sure.” [pulls out gun and shoots cow].
Man:  “Oops.”
Now, maybe it’s just me, but this joke struck me as [...]

Our daughter has been wanting to raise frogs for some time, and even had a habitat all in readiness, so when we were hiking at the park near our house and found a puddle full of tadpoles, we brought two home.

That is, indeed, a very blurry tadpole.  Just now they look a lot alike, so we’re calling [...]

I’ve noticed that many of my FB friends use their entire name for their FB profile.  This is helpful in finding friends from one’s past, and relatives from both sides of the family.  Of course, it also puts a woman’s maiden name out on the internet, assuming she changed it when she married.  Given the [...]

This morning I pulled a green plaid turtleneck from the closet, even though it’s not a favorite shirt and the weather would have allowed for something cooler.  You’d think this was just a wise precaution on Patty’s Day, but I didn’t even realize that this most beloved of all pinching holidays had arrived.
Except, maybe, on [...]