Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

A few weeks ago I posted a bit of creative non-fiction from our first night in Death Valley National Park this year (at the end of March). Now I'm continuing with the next two days in the park. In case you want the short version of the Panamint Dunes post. After extracting ourselves and our car from the Panamint Dunes area with no major damage, we were facing the hottest part of the day, and some time to kill before the light would be good for more photos. So we decided to head to higher ground, and drove to Lee's Flats, at about 4000', where probably the second-best Joshua Tree forest in the universe grows (more on this when I get to the East Mojave). Joshua tree forest and Telescope Peak. Joshua Tree blossom. They are pollinated by the yucca moth. On from Lee Flats to take care of chores (water and info at Furnace Creek; dinner along the road) and drive south to a canyon we'd read of, where we hiked again away from the roads and made our bed in a dry wash (yes, we ch

Last week, Chuck Wendig collected a whole lot of titles from his readers. This week, he presented us with his 10 favorite and told us to pick one and write the story. He gave us the usual 1000 words; I used 918. I'm In Love With A Zombie But He Doesn’t Even Know I’m Alive Look, I’ve been crushing on Armand since the sixth grade. We’re graduating next spring, so that’s pretty much a whole lifetime, in teen years. He’s never liked me back, of course. Why should the cutest guy in the school pay any attention to a geek with pimples? Even if I do have the best brains in our class. Plus I don’t even know if he likes boys. So I guess I have the best brains except when it comes to crushing on beautiful boys with no brains and 17 girlfriends. I have to admit that’s pretty stupid. After last month, it’s even more stupid. You know all about that, of course. There hasn’t been much else on the news besides the virus that spread into every community in North America, turning about ten percent o

The purpose of the IWSG: 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! Click on the badge above to see the IWSG home page and the linky list. So...What am I fretting over this month? I have plenty to choose from for my anxiety-of-the-month. I'm still revising book three of the Ninja Librarian series, though I'd ha d hopes t hat I'd have it ready for beta-readers by the end of A pril. It's going to take at least anot her week . And I still don't have a title I like, nor any idea what the cover should look like. Not good. Then there's the whole marketing thing, or building a platform, or just being visible out there. I had great hopes of making myself known and loved far and wide with extensive visiting during the A to Z Challenge (in which I didn't participate except as a

I'm late. I know I'm late. Sometimes, that's just the way I am. I had to finish the book this morning! Title: Bone Gap Author: Laura Ruby Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2015. 345 pages Publisher's Summary: Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame? Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone,

In celebration of the final two days of the special sale price for Death By Ice Cream, I am offering a short story featuring JJ MacGregor and her friend Kitty, neatly solving another problem for Pismawallops Island high school. This would take place between the events of Death By Ice Cream and those of Death By Trombone.  998 words.   Senior Sneak “Anything interesting at school?” I juggled a gallon of milk and an overloaded hand-basket as I made the polite inquiry of my son’s principal. I expected Mr. Ammon to smile and give an equally polite and meaningless answer and get on with his shopping. Instead, he groaned. “What should there be, JJ? I’m sitting in the office doing paperwork when I should be teaching algebra and trigonometry, coping with everyone’s moods and issues and crises, not to mention that the seniors get insufferable this time of year. Apart from all that it’s just hunky-dory.” I mumbled something about, “let me know what we can do to help,” and tried to rest the corn

Last of my A to Z highlights posts, unless I find some more blogs I just have to share in the last 4 days of the month. For everyone who has ever loved Dilbert or hated work, Words from Sonobe features daily horror stories (or maybe they aren't all horror, just the ones I read?) from work, with a touch of humor. I've been following My Life in Retirement for quite a while. This A to Z its about books and travel. And another in a similar category, A Septuagenarian's Ramblings . Some interesting snippets on writing from Thinky Thoughts...Mostly About Writing . I'll throw in here the second live-on-board blog that Jemima mentioned last week in my comments: S. V. Cambria . They sail where my brother likes to cruise; wonder if they've ever run into each other! The "V" post is lengthy, but some excellent advice about improving your photos. Paws 4 Puzzles offers a fun puzzle every day. Looks like the difficulty varies, but they aren't super simple. I'll

It's been a while since I managed to hook up with the Kid Lit Blog Hop, but here I go. Click on the image above to see the links to other blogs covering books for children! And now for my review: Title: Replay Author: Sharon Creech Publisher: Harper Collins, 2009. 136 pages (per my Nook) Source: Library (digital services) Publisher's Summary:  With the backdrop of a large family and a theater as its frame, this is a story about twelve-year-old Leo, who has a talent for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. That's why he's called "fog boy." He's always dreaming, always replaying things in his brain. As an actor in the school play, he is poised and ready for the curtain to open. But in the play that is his life, he is eager to discover what part will be his. With the universal theme of finding one's true identity, and set amid a loud, noisy, memorable family, Leo's story is one that all kids will relate to. And there's a full

It was a random title draw at Terribleminds.com this week, but I confess I simply picked the title I liked best. For your reading pleasure, 997 words. The Present Will be Infernal That was what the prophecy said: “The present will be infernal.” My Da always added, “and the past and future don’t look so good either.” Most of our suffering was on account of the war. Anytime we managed to get some small crop, seemed like either an army came along and requisitioned the whole thing, or two armies came along and held a battle atop our fields, trampling them to mudholes. Corpses don’t make for good fertilizer, at least not right away. Our village always managed to just scrape by, but it wasn’t pretty. That explained Da’s take on past and present. As for the future—our village won’t have one. The armies took our young men. They’d always taken some, the ones who itched to get out, or who thought they wanted an adventure. But this time, King Tellert declared a muster, and claimed every male of f

Okay, round 3, and I'll see if I manage to get it right this time! I'm clicking on a lot of blogs in the middle of the A to Z list that haven't been posting. I'm hoping the list will get tidied up soon, but meanwhile, here are some I've found that were worth the visit: Life aboard a sailboat: Life Afloat Some good (short) poems (plus a nice punning blog title): The Write Side of the Bed Some hesitation about this one, as the blogger hasn't posted since K, but the pictures are lovely if you just want to go look at photos: Beth Cooper Photography Wendy's Waffle will take you on a tour...of London's tube stops! All in a Dad's Work --a parenting blog that seems to have it's head screwed on straight (or maybe I'm biased because he advocates going outside and getting dirty, a favorite around our house). And that's all I have time for tonight! Can't believe another Wednesday is rolling around already. ###### Still nearly two weeks to get De