Booksigning in Pueblo today!

I’ll be signing copies of How to Bake a Perfect Life at the Pueblo Barnes and Noble today, 1-3. Hope to see you there!

Pueblo Eagleridge Shopping Center 4300 North Freeway Pueblo, CO 81008 719-542-0698

The anvil of holiday guilt

First: we’re working behind the scenes on the Barbara O’Neal and Barbara Samuel webpages, which should be up early next week. Lots of new features, better navigation…and of course, contests will be kicking off with the release of How to Bake a Perfect Life, coming December 21. Stay tuned!

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Every year, I promise [...]

Ordinariness

Tonight, reading through Twitterings, I saw an intriguing little something that led me to a memoir writing site that ended with this:

In Italy they have these walled cemeteries with compartments for the remains of the dead. Every Sunday all these little old ladies go to visit the graves of their departed husbands. One [...]

Whispers of autumn

photo by ha Ree

This morning, I had to put on tennis shoes and pull on my fleece before I walked the dog.  The sky is clear and the sun is like lemon juice dripping between shadows, but there’s a bite to the breeze.  On the western horizon, Pikes Peak is drawn in [...]

I am seven years old….

Working with timed writings and writing prompts

I’m currently teaching voice classes. One of the techniques I love is to use prompts and timed writings to help writers get past the internal critic and find a natural cadence and tone.  The prompt for this one is to write for ten minutes on a house [...]

Elsewhere, a blog on walking

No one here will be surprised at this post that I wrote for  Writer Unboxed.   I knew some of you would enjoy reading it, but keep forgetting to post a link here.

The Writer’s Toolbox: Walking

One of the number one requirements of a commercial fiction career is that you must reliably produce [...]

The Reward in Going Away

When I was a child, I loved going to  summer camp.  Girl Scout camp in canvas tents with wooden floors, or much more often church camp (probably because it was very inexpensive and my parents had four kids) in cabins housing 20 girls.   It was the highlight of the summer—getting ready, gathering shampoo and [...]

RITA AWARD FOR THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS!!!

I thought you might like to see the sisters.

More when I can actually sit up straight. After 6 days of conferencing and three of Walt Disney World, I don’t trust myself to cross the room, much less post about the [...]

England: the seaside, part one

Having technical difficulties with photos.  Will add later.

Time: 8:20 pm, English time.  Weather: bright and warm.  Not a drop of rain in sight.

Books read: 2 (1 memoir, picked up on impulse at the Borders in the Orlando airport, 1 British Women’s Fiction picked up at a thrift shop in Cranbrook, Kent when [...]

Anticipation...will you come along with me?

I keep resolving to be better about the blog.  It isn’t that I don’t enjoy it–I do.  It’s just that lately it seems there are a million beautiful places for you to fill the well, and I want to make a post that is meaningful and real and good every single time.   But [...]