Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

As you can see from the counter on the side-bar, I've hit the 80K mark on  Painted Over,  and from the outside it might look like I'm done. In fact, though I reached the end, thanks to some big changes that happened in the middle (major deviations from my plan!), I have to go back and change some things to make the ending work. I want to do some of that now, while it's fresh in my mind, so I'll be working on it the next couple of days, re-writing some parts and leaving lots of notes to myself in others.  This draft has been a bear, and I feel a  like I've been wrestling a bear! I can't lie: I'll be glad to put it aside until sometime next year. In the meantime, I have short stories that have been waiting patiently for attention, and can start after the holidays with the edits on Seffi Wardwell #4,  Logged Off  (or maybe  Logged Off at the Library,  but I'm leaning to the short and crisp for my titles just now. Feel free to offer opinions). Just on...

It's the last first Wednesday of the month for 2025 (cue "how did we get here so fast?" comments), and time for the IWSG post.  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 the IWSG page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Otherwise, when you lea...

Really? I'm writing? Well, okay, at this point that's stretching it. But I'm staying home for a while and back at my computer. More specifically, I am plotting and planning and getting ready to start drafting a new novel. I even have a tentative title:  Painted Over . I kind of liked  Portrait of the Artist as a Young Corpse,  but that's a bit long and maybe a bit geeky.  I'm still at the stage where I'm having fun tossing around big ideas and coming up with characters, writing their stories, and wondering what new personal challenges Seffi should face. It's starting to come together in my head, so I can reasonably hope to start the first draft within the next couple of weeks. I'm looking at bringing back some peripheral characters from both  Edited Out  (#3 in series, released Aug. 25) and #4 , Logged Off   (possibly  Logged Off at the Library , but I'm leaning toward the shorter title. Feel free to offer your opinions on all this in th...

I was chatting with a couple of young women the other day, and used the words "writing" and "work" in the same sentence. That got a reaction from one (another word geek) as she said something like, "but writing's fun!" Thus this brief meditation on how fun writing is and sometimes isn't. Because while I can't think of anything I'd rather do, work-wise, there are times in the process when writing is, in fact, a great deal like work. I've been editing  Edited Out for what feels like ages, which might explain why just now I'm not thinking writing is the most fun work ever. Having spent two whole days just contemplating my shortcomings with regards to comma usage, I find myself wondering if I even know English well enough to write (note: it is my native language and really, I do. But commas!). I figure it takes me about 6 weeks to draft a novel, and 6 months to revise it. Then I am astonished, every single time, to realize it takes anot...

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and I'm excited that it's not only IWSG day, but I get to be a co-host! 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 writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!   Don't forget you can post your link on the IWSG Facebook page .    Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and h...

Book 3 of the Seffi Wardwell mysteries really is coming soon... depending on how you define "soon." I'm plugging away at the edits, and my cover artist has finished the semester and is at work on the cover (Right, Maggie?). I can't believe how long this is all taking. When will I learn that the revision stage is hard, and always takes longer than it should? And why?  Because I avoid it, and because it really does take a long time to work through the whole book so many times. Anyway, here is the blurb, and as soon as I have a cover I will set up pre-orders and give myself a hard and fast launch date! Feel free to offer suggestions on the blurb--nothing is set in stone yet! Who rubbed out 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 generally keeping an eye on...

The blog is on autopilot for a couple of weeks here while I'm out getting new photos to share!  Meanwhile, the writer updates are: -- Edited Out is still out being edited (okay, not really edited, but beta-read) --Since my IWSG update, one more short story is out on submissions, and one has been accepted! --I'm teaching a short-story class at the senior center, so am finally writing some new flash fiction.   And that's about it! I'm excited to get out hiking and will get on the photos as soon as I'm back home :)   Teaser shot for what may be coming :)   ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025    As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. 
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I've been working hard lately on my new novel. Deep in the edits, I'm thinking about scenes that matter or don't, words that serve no purpose, and how to make my story as engaging as possible. And all the while I'm aware of the massive crisis of democracy taking place around us, and it feels weird. How are we meant to act at a time like this? Between writing and calling our senators and representatives, and maybe showing up for protests and rallies, most of life seems to be going on as usual, for those of us who haven't yet been directly affected. Even those of us who have reason to be afraid for family members don't have much we can do to directly protect them (and yes, it sucks to know you might not be able to protect your kids, however adult they are). Is it wrong to keep writing what I call "brain candy" in the light of all this? What would I do if I stopped working? Can my books help someone, somewhere, to hang onto their sanity through a small es...

Happy New Year! This is my 2024 review of the year's activities, or maybe some of them. Reading I didn't hit my 100-book target for the year--at least, not without including the many old friends I re-read for the umpteenth time, taking comfort in their familiarity like some people take comfort in re-runs of Friends or pots of mac and cheese. Without those, I come in at about 88 books. But--I shall finally jump in and do the "My Year In Books" that Jemima Pett has been doing for several years (see her this year's post here ). The idea is simple: Just fill in the blanks with titles of books I read. This is not meant to be any kind of value judgement on the books; I have included links to reviews where possible (and am shocked at how many I failed to review). So far, I would describe this year as being: Devil's Food I’m tipping that the next big thing in Reality TV shows will be: Time and Tide I could have cried when: West With the Night I would love to have ...

It's the first Wednesday of the Month, and that means time for our Insecure Writers Support Group posts! I'm having to make a fast trip to California this week, so I may be slow responding, but I will get to you if you leave a comment!   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!   Don't forget you can ...

Yes, friends, that's right: today, Washed Up With the Tide is released on the world! If you pre-ordered ebooks, they should drop onto your device today. In fact, they should already be there, and you should be too busy reading the book to read this post. If you didn't pre-order, today's a great day to buy the book. Why? Because a big bump of sales on one day pushes me up the sales ranking and increases the odds the book will be seen. So, yeah, that's totally about me, but since you know you want it, why not click "buy" when it will do me the most good? You can also (finally!) order paperback copies. I sent for mine some time ago, but I guess Amazon wouldn't want me to give any out before they do, so they haven't even shipped them yet. For those who pre-ordered signed copies, I'll get them out as soon as they arrive, apparently along about the end of the week. And for anyone who hasn't seen all my excited posts about this, here's the scoop:...

I've been pretty quiet for quite a while, and it's time I got back on the blogging schedule! I've been enjoying some great trips--I even got to see Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS from a perch in the Grand Canyon! And followed it up with several days in the Bay Area with my kids, engaging in some house-hunting on their behalf, which is both fun and stressful as all get out. As a result, very little writing has happened (again). I did work a little on the poor sad short story that keeps getting shunted aside in favor of another hike, and of course, the new book has a cover, is formatted, and--ta-da! -- has a release date! So here it is:  It's available November 18, just in time to give copies as Christmas presents! So that's pretty cool. I still have some tinkering to do with the formatting but it is substantially finished--and I'm really excited, both for the release and to be working on the next book! Edited Out has been patiently waiting its turn for revisions, and Bo...