Wednesday, April 3, 2024 Welcome, everyone. To write these Whatnot Wednesday posts, I let my mind meander down a path of diverse but related subjects. The Scoobies are indoor cats, so I decided to give them a plant. That’s when they took over this post. Velma didn’t give a mouse’s butt, but Daphne went cray-cray … More Whatnot Wednesday: Cat Seeds
Thursday, March 14, 2024 Welcome, everyone. Who’s at the Door today? Throughout my blogging career, I’ve been lucky to know people who are generous, talented, and generally wonderful. Several of my blog friendships go all the way back to the first novel I published, Atonement, Tennessee. One of those people is at the door now. ♣ ♣ ♣ … More Who’s at the #ThursdayDoor? (3)
Saturday, March 9, 2024 WKRP’s Doctor Johnny Fever and the Red Wigglers commercial Welcome, everyone. I’ve been pondering what to do for my weekend posts, and nothing seemed right. Suddenly an idea popped into my mind for “Vintage Vignettes.” That gives me a broad range of topics. It might be a fictional vignette, a memory, … More Vintage Vignettes: the Red Wriggler
Tuesday, March 5, 2024 Today I’m visiting Off Center and Not Even with photographer and musician Timothy Price. He wrote what he called a “nonsense song” about a time when he and his wife had nine cats. Click over to his blog and join the fun. Comments are closed here.
Monday, February 12, 2024 Hello, everyone. First, something good. Today is the first anniversary of the day Velma and Daphne arrived. I wanted to use names of a fictional detective duo. During the night before they came, my mind had briefly flitted across the names on which I eventually settled. However, if Chris The Story Reading … More Things change — and usually not for the better. Announcement
Thursday, February 1, 2024 Welcome, everyone. This year, I had the idea to do an occasional blogger feature, called Who’s at the Door? Today we have the second installment. The kitty above is not one of my “Scoobies.” No, that’s Leo, who belongs to our featured blogger. Readers of my Atonement: Bad Bishop serial will … More Who’s at the Door? (2) #ThursdayDoors
Saturday, January 6, 2024 First, a big thank you to Dan Antion for making a post of the writing exercise I did on Wednesday — and giving my books a double shout-out, with Speak Falpper and Hullabal Lulu, a Diesel-Punk Adventure. Don’t miss Dan’s post. Since Daphne was being such a character (if not a … More Weekend Serial, Characters
Monday, December 25, 2023 Merry Christmas and happy anything else you might celebrate. If you don’t celebrate anything at all, then we’ll simply celebrate the day. Frankly, I don’t really do much for holidays. At least, not nearly to the extent that most people do. That’s just the way my life is. However, this is … More Meowy Catmas & Happy Holidays
Saturday, December 9, 2023 Welcome back to Atonement, TN. It’s good to see you. This time, the random reader things, which drive this episode were from the “soundtrack” suggestions. Resa McConaghy suggested Hotel California. It seems like if a song fits my mood, the ability to write arrives soon after the tune gets embedded in … More Weekend Serial — Atonement: Bad Bishop, Prologue 2, Featuring Resa McConaghy
Saturday, November 25, 2023 Update: I need to share two responses to my creativity challenge. Both fellow authors did journal entries for their characters. Robbie Cheadle used a character from a novel in progress. Dan Antion worked a bit about the journal of one of his bartender characters into his post today. Hello, everyone. I realize … More Daphne-cat’s Dance
Saturday, November 18, 2023 Hello, everyone. Before I get to the point, we do have a response to the creativity challenge. It’s from fellow author Geoff Le Pard. Don’t miss his is hysterically Ruthless response. Be sure to check it out. Anyway, you aren’t mistaken — I was late publishing this post. I’ve been banging my head … More Atonement, TN Soundtrack
Saturday, October 28, 2023 Welcome to my sanctuary, everyone. You’d think I would be refreshed after such a long blog break. Instead, I wrote a novella (A Peril in the Bayou). Writing a short novel during that long break was actually arduous, and it didn’t lead to a replenishment of energy. However, to keep the … More Atonement Serial Research
Saturday, October 21, 2023 Imagine a room made of chocolate — that’s what my (bl0g) sanctuary is today. Don’t worry, imaginary chocolate has no calories. Plus, if you eat a wall from a chocolate house, the roof won’t cave in. If you eat a chocolate leg from a chaise lounge, you won’t land in the … More Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon: Robbie Cheadle
Saturday, September 9, 2023 Welcome, everyone. I hope your September is going well. I’m still on a blog “break.” That word is kind of hard to say considering that I’ve been staying up past 1AM several nights, working on books and related tasks. However, to tide you over until I come back to do the … More Atonement in Zugzwang, Book 1 — Now available
Saturday, September 2, 2023 Hello, everyone. Thanks for visiting my sanctuary. My break from blogging isn’t precisely over yet. As Olga Núñez Miret once told me, sometimes doing something different is as good as a break. That’s what I’ve been doing. But first a boo-hiss to WordPress for continuing to crop large swaths off my … More Atonement in Zugzwang Part 2: Call for Things
Saturday, August 19, 2023 Welcome back to Atonement, TN. It’s good to see you. Today I’m welcoming fellow author/blogger Marian Allen back to the blog-verse. Marian hasn’t been able to post much this year because she fell and broke both wrists. Back in DC, I had a severe break to my right wrist (that of … More Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang: Episode 23, Featuring Marian Allen
Saturday, August 12, 2023 Welcome back, everyone. I’m happy that you’re following this urban fantasy serial. To drive this episode, I used John W. Howell‘s “finger point prompt.” Here’s how John uses this prompt, “The idea is to open a book randomly and, without looking, point to the page. The word or words closest to the … More Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang: Episode 22, Featuring Teri Polen
Saturday, April 29, 2023 Welcome back, everyone. After doing various types of refresher posts during the past couple of weeks (here and at my midweek posts), I’m going to move straight into the new episode. Today the random reader things, which drive this episode are from fellow blogger and author, D.L. (Denise) Finn. She already … More Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang: Episode 9, Featuring D.L. Finn
Saturday, April 15, 2023 Thanks for coming back to my sanctuary, everyone. I put the chessboard (above) on a tropical shore. It reminded me of the blog, Pacific Paratrooper. Actually, the special guest this week is GP Cox, who runs that blog. He provided this week’s random reader things: Musket, pawn, and barber pole. One … More Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang: Episode 8, Featuring G. P. Cox
Saturday, April 8, 2023 Hello, everyone. The month of April has begun with odd weather again for many of us. Not to mention the odd happenings under my kitchen sink. I’ve had the plumber out for my badly leaking sink three times in as many weeks. “Nothing is wrong” with the sink. I guess that … More Weekend Serial — Atonement in Zugzwang: Episode 7, Featuring Teri Polen
Saturday, February 18, 2023 Welcome back to my sanctuary, everyone. It’s serene here… and at once it’s utter chaos. How’s that? I have a new family. A few of you from Facebook already know this. Pixabay Of course, I had that longstanding vow that I would never go through the gut-wrenching pain of losing another … More INTRODUCING…
Sunday, February 12, 2023 I know my presence in the blog world has been unpredictable lately. This is a personal update. Don’t worry, I’m not going to delve into my heartache, past or present. When Aspen died, eight years ago, I swore that Crystal would be the final feline. Throughout her 16 ½ years, Crystal … More A Personal Update
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 What’s that you said? “Hello, stranger!” Well, yes. I actually feel like a stranger, since I was without Internet for so long and unable to be here. I’m trying a new setup. At this point, I don’t feel very positive about it, but we’ll see how it goes. Now that I’m … More Wednesday, Writing for the Senses — Sight
Saturday, January 14, 2023 Welcome back to my sanctuary, everyone. Ha. Not that kind of look. Although I’ve had my eye on an idea. You see, I’m still not feeling up to starting a new “three things” style blog serial. However, I’ve been thinking about preselecting the setting for the next serial, and the setting … More New Year, New Look — Atonement, Tennesse
Saturday, December 17, 2022 Welcome back to my sanctuary, everyone. I hope the holiday season is bringing joy your way. I know all of you are busy, so today’s short story will be quite short. Actually, it’s a rerun from 2015, a little slice of life from my Atonement, Tennessee universe. It seems like a … More Weekend #ShortStories — a Rerun from Atonement, TN
Thursday, March 10, 2022 Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week. Then go to host, Dan Antion’s blog to share your … More #ThursdayDoors to Self-knowledge & Fe-Lines at — Rebecca’s On The Road Book Club
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Those of you who have known me for a long time, know that I’ve been a tarot reader since the 1990s, all sorts of cards and divining and intuitive processes. Long-time followers might remember my blog and book versions of a series of cozy 1920s mysteries about … More Wednesday Writing — When in Rome, SR Mallery
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 Hello, everyone. Happy hump day. My serial approach in publishing Dead of Winter in novelette-sized monthly installments is rather unusual. It will take months for some story elements to be fully revealed. I realize it’s hard to be patient. So, I thought it might be fun to have a sort of … More Wednesday Writing — Question & Answer Party
Wednesday, February 10, 2021 Yes, that’s another of my Designed & Ready Book Covers. I held back on using it for myself because I wanted to show it as an example of my portfolio. However, it did inspire a short-short story. I’m sharing that today as an early Valentine from me to all of you. … More Wednesday Writing — Cat Seeds
Monday, November 16, 2020 Several weeks ago, the multi-talented Tim Price invited me to be part of some truly whimsical fun. Cats were involved, so I was all in. Warning/Disclaimer — there’s a musical ahead, and I’m in it. Brace yourself. You’ll hear me caterwauling. Time went by, and yesterday Tim turned our zaniness into … More Sunday’s Sound of Coffee Grinding — Off Center & Not Even
Saturday, October 31, 2020 The Delta Pearl Happy Halloween, my chuckaboos! Unfortunately, The Delta Pearl is not here today. Sometimes writing is harder to accomplish than others. The steampunk riverboat will be back, I promise. I’ve begun to tie up some of the threads that Amethyst and I have woven into the web of this … More Happy Halloween & Stuff
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 First, I apologize to anyone who received my accidental posts. The scheduling option I typically use wasn’t working properly. Actually it disappeared entirely… Welcome to my sanctuary. Last Wednesday’s post went to the cats. This one is for the birds! Or one bird anyhow. I’m talking about Jinx, my magpie character. … More Wednesday Review — Brother Love
Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Update/Note: I wasn’t expecting this post to turn into a birthday party, but everyone is making me smile. Thank you all for your good wishes. Hugs on the wing! Welcome to my sanctuary. This post has gone to the… cats. It seems the felines have gotten inside. If you’re a cat … More Wednesday Writing — Adding Animals
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Last week, quite unexpectedly, a kitten wandered into my novel in progress. On a whim, I invited everyone to give me name suggestions for him. Those of you who know I’m a “cat person” are probably surprised that the kitten was a surprise to me… but I already had two other … More Named the Kitten
Saturday, November 17, 2018 Welcome, to my sanctuary. Could I offer you some coffee or tea, and a pastry or maybe a breakfast biscuit? Something more unusual — perhaps herbal tea… maybe even catnip tea? I had a few days away from my job, and other than a migraine and snow (both on Thursday), it’s … More A Bloomin’ Good Week in Atonement TN – It’s Catnip!
Image courtesy of Chris Graham Welcome, one and all — to this re-run of last year’s Get Caught Reading mini-series. Without further ado, here’s the conclusion! *** It’s been fun participating in Get Caught Reading Month. I hope my zany and bizarre story encouraged people of all ages to read. Last week my real-world schedule … More Get Caught Reading — The Sign of the Ape 4 (2016 Rerun Conclusion)
#GetCaughtReadingMonth Hello everyone. As you may have noticed I’m rerunning last year’s mini-series. It’s about the escapades of our intrepid band of bloggers and their pets. That was how I participated in Get Caught Reading Month. After May I’ll get back to my usual posting schedule. This when I’m not working at my “real” job, … More Get Caught Reading — The Sign of the Ape 2 (2016 Rerun)
A Mid-Week Challenge Yes everyone — I just challenged you (the blogger said with a Cheshire grin).Whether or not you see yourself as a writer, this will be a good mental exercise. Write a paragraph or a page — from the point of view of an animal. I find that creative writing is easier if there … More Atonement Character Interviews: Lilith
Three Ingredients Serial What’s next? Thanks to everyone who sent “votes” on what you wanted to do next – now that we reached a conclusion in the Three Things Serial storyline. It was a three-way tie, appropriately enough! So I’m going with the one that is the biggest challenge for me. (Yes, I’m just twisted … More What’s Next? New “Interactive” Serial
I try to limit this blog to writing related posts. Maybe I’m celebrating reaching the National Novel Writing Month goal of a draft novel of 50,000 words (yay!). Or maybe I really am just a crazy cat lady… However I thought this was one of the best cat videos I’ve ever seen. The narrator sounds … More Guide to Caring for Humans
Teagan's Books 