Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Back last month, before I started my backpacking trip in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, I did a couple of dayhikes in the area, mostly to try to get used to breathing at 8-10,000'. Every little bit helps, though uphill hikes still kicked my backside.    At some point in every trip, chaos reigns. This is your brain on travel...   West Fork Rock Creek I arrived in the area just after lunchtime, and promptly drove to the end of the road, figuring an amble up the creek with no particular destination in mind would be a good way to get started without going too far. I forgot that if there's no particular destination (and no steep climbs, either), it's pretty easy to go "just a little farther." My little walk ended up being 6 miles. It was drizzling a little when I started out, and threatening to get a lot wetter, so I didn't take my camera, only my phone. Exciting glimpses of mountainish things. The rain didn't materialize in any force, though a couple of de...

  Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and ...

I may have gotten the idea of reading this from another Magical Middle Grade Monday reviewer. After not posting with them at all in August, I'm back,  posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  This one's kind of fudging, as it's more YA than MG, though not hopelessly YA.   Title: Run Like a Girl Author: Amaka Egbe. Read by A'rese Emokpae Publication Info : HarlequinAudio, 2025. 12 hours. Hardback HarperCollins, 2025, 384 pages. Source : Library Publisher's blurb (Goodreads):  Dera Edwards knows her life is over when she's shipped off to live with her estranged father in the middle of White Suburbia. To make matters worse, Dera learns that her new school doesn’t have a girls’ track team, shattering her dreams of getting a track scholarship and, one day, competing in the Olympics. Not one to give up e...

Way back at the end of July, a couple of friends and I joined a guided kayak trip to the Sucia Island Marine State Park (San Juan Islands, Washington). The tour was run by Anacortes Kayak Tours , which did a fantastic job. Note on the photography: many of these shots were done with my iPhone 15 Pro Max, which does a very good job, for a phone. I didn't want to take a good camera onto the salt water, so the rest are shot on a long-retired Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot, as the one of my old cameras with the longest zoom. It was not without issues.  Since the meet-up time was 9 a.m. on Orcas Island, we drove up and took the ferry to Orcas the day before. That gave us time to poke around the island a bit and get a seafood dinner. We camped at Moran State Park (it turned out that all the members of our tour did that, though of course we didn't know each other then and were in different campgrounds). As it happened, the morning ferry was 45 minutes late, so we all hung out at the b...

  Edited Out is Out! Book 3 of the Seffi Wardwell Maine Mystery series is out today! Seffi's continuing adventures see her taking a part-time job taking care of plants and helping out at the local B&B during an Artists' Residency.   Winter wraps Smelt Point in an icy blanket, and Seffi just wants to stay warm, enjoy some plants, and get her exercise. Now she has a bigger question to face:  Who erased the writer?   Winter in Maine is long, dark, and cold, and California transplant Seffi Wardwell is combating the winter blues with a full calendar. Tending the plants at the local bed-and-breakfast, writing reports for the library, and keeping an eye on events in Smelt Point barely leaves time for pastry and gossip at Sweet Dreams, the local bakery and heart of the village. When the participants at an artistic retreat held at the bed-and-breakfast grow combative, Seffi is there to smooth things over, stiffen the spine of the innkeeper, and keep things going. B...