Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

I'm 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.  IIRC I won today's book in a drawing from someone's web site. It then sat on my TBR pile (the real one, the one that might bury me in an earthquake) for so long that I don't remember from whom I got it. My thanks to you, whoever you are!   Title : Meg Goes to America Author: Katy Hammel Publication Info: 2020, 193 pages Source: won it in a giveaway  My Review: Meg Goes to America  is a fictionalized version of real-life events in the life of the author's mother. As a family story, it's pretty dramatic.  The book deals with some serious issues, and brings up a lot of good food for thought, but somehow it didn't grab me in the way that I think it might have done.  One reason for that might be the writing style. The reading level is probably a little more t...

I may go back to editing the photos from Montana before I continue with the Icelandic reports, but I do have some shots from Reykjavik, where I spent the first two days of my recent Iceland vacation (feels like a very long time ago, but it was, in fact, Sept. 4 & 5). I arrived at Keflavik airport at 7 a.m. on the 4th, after a lot of flying and no sleeping.  Just before landing we popped out of the clouds and I got my first look at Iceland.   The airport is about an hour from Reykjavik by direct shuttle bus; less when there's no traffic, a little longer as we got caught in the morning commute. I walked from the bus station to my hotel, where I was able to store my bags and head out for a tour of the city. One of my first stops was the tower of Hallgrimskirkja.  The Lutheran church was built over 40 years, from 1945 to 1986, and the exterior mimics the columns of basalt that are seen throughout the country. For a fee (one soon realizes in Iceland that *everything* is fo...

I usually call photos like this "abstracts," but of course most of them aren't really abstract. They're just close ups, mostly of rocks this time, but also of water sometimes. They're just for enjoying, and by next weekend maybe I'll have some sneak preview photos from Iceland!   ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025    As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. 
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 Just letting you all know I’m still here, though not writing. I’m in Iceland, touring the country in a campervan at this moment (okay, right at this moment it’s raining and I’m sitting over my morning tea, in no hurry to be up and doing). Just a couple of random pbotos. Triumph on a mountaintop at the end of the Laugvegur Trail. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Back to my scheduled programming! Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025  As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. 
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I'm not sure what the origin was for this story from 2015, but I touched it up a little and hope you get a smile out of it. My apologies for the formatting. I know it should be either intents or double-spaces between paragraphs, but I'm too lazy to fix it.   Burglars in Paradise   “Look at this, Julia! The place isn’t even locked.”   “Let me see, Melvin.” The shapely blonde tested the doorknob. Sure enough, it turned and the door swung open a little. Like Melvin, Julia pulled it shut again very quietly and looked around for the catch. No one was in sight. No surveillance cameras recorded their every move. Nothing moved but the two of them, and no sound but a light breeze disturbed the perfection of the night.   “Those guys in the bar were right. This place is perfect,” Melvin enthused. "It really is utopian, just like they said."   So why does it make me so nervous? Julia wondered. A job shouldn’t be this easy. Rather, it shou...

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...