Thrilled to announce my new book A Murder on Jane Street Here’s a little intel on the road that led me to Jane Street! The grandpa I idolized in childhood was a detective lieutenant so maybe detecting is in my blood… any astrologer worth her salt would tell you my loaded 12th House makes me [ Read More ]
I Meet a Bona Fide Saint in New Jersey Just after I finished writing Bless the Child and sent off my manuscript to the publisher, an acquaintance whom I didn’t know well, told me a world famous Jain Monk, revered by millions as a Saint, was coming to an Ashram in New Jersey. She said [ Read More ]
The Herstory of the Old West The most disturbing knowledge that came out of my research for Paint the Wind was that most of the women who went West didn’t want to go! Their diaries are so different from the men’s, so poignant and grief stricken… and so damned brave. They didn’t want to leave [ Read More ]
How to Run a Disorderly House in 1890 Early New York was littered with prostitution in the late 1800’s. On the streets and in the Bawdy or Disorderly Houses as the cops designated them, prostitution was a booming business. The brothel business abounded not merely because of lust and lawlessness, but because it was [ Read More ]
History and Mystery… I was divorced when I was 23 and my children were babies , one 12 months old and her sister 12 days old. (They’re nearly 2 and 3 in the photo above!) I was trained only as a portrait painter, had no alimony or child support to see me through, and [ Read More ]
Following the Light While I was writing and researching PAINT THE WIND, my Western epic, I was also seriously involved in both Martial Arts and alternative healing, studying with Dr. John Upledger, a Chinese doctor, several hands-on healers, and – maybe most importantly of all – a visionary Native American Medicine Man, Joseph Rael, aka [ Read More ]
I know from your letters to me that many of you, in your heart of hearts, fantasize about writing a novel. So, I’d like to use my own wacky path to authordom, to inspire you to write that novel or to pursue whatever other passionate dream you’ve got. I know for a fact that it’s [ Read More ]
The talk of possibilities for Paint the Wind to become a movie or miniseries has caused me to be reminded very hauntingly of my mother. I should tell you, I think, that although my mother’s name was Kate, the family called her Manu, because it meant Giver of the Law in Hindi – she was [ Read More ]
My daughter Dakota is just about to graduate from college, and I have the awful maternal fear that I might have forgotten to tell her something that’s really important. So I made a list. I know the accumulation of wisdom is a lifelong task and can’t be hurried or culled from someone else’s hands – [ Read More ]