Most writers have a little unease when approaching the blank screen for the first time each day.  That's very often the case even when the job is no more than making up a story and/or assembling sentences. For Mark Pinsky, working on his new book involved much scarier situations.  And yet he persisted in his […] Read More

A story about sisters, set in Mumbai and Barcelona, Traces of Sandalwood is a movie to be made by an all-female crew: director, composer, line producers, etc. This exciting project is, in part, an effort to balance the extreme male dominance of the movie-making industry. Guest blogger Holly Bieler — who grew up in LA […] Read More

Newly wedded couple last week in Monterey. Read More

I just made a change in my "price structure" for critiquing manuscripts, etc.  In addition to the page rate, I ask people to also buy one of my novels each time they contract with me for a service.  Even if they already have all of them! Cheeky? Maybe. Highly self-promotional? You bet! I consider it […] Read More

                                                                                                                                                                         (from USA Today) In support of the fast food workers who went on strike for higher pay this week in more than 50 U.S. cities, I […] Read More

                                     You may not know of the Golden Flower that this intriguing memoir deciphers.  A 12th century Taoist text on meditation, its full title is The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life or by […] Read More

My first and so-far-only venture into self-publishing.  A 20-page Kindle item: At Sea with My Writing: A Novelist Cruises to Book Deals priced at 99 cents.  The title alone ought to qualify this action as bold. The booklet/litbit/cybersingle or whatever this new form is called is made up of two articles, each one the story […] Read More

At first I asked myself: have you never looked at clouds before, Peggy? Was all this extraordinary stuff overhead here your whole life and you never noticed? But then I discussed the matter with others.  I'm not the only one in a state of astonishment over the recent cloudscapes.  The sky over central North Carolina […] Read More

My 2001 novel Sister India, set in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, emerged in recent days as an e-book.  Appropriately for a book from the bank of the Ganges, it was re-released by the original publisher, Riverhead, an imprint of The Penguin Group. I am very happy to have this book easily available again. […] Read More

Holding a  book signing at a skin spa is definitely "thinking outside of the books."  (Good one, yes?) Sister novelist Carrie Knowles and I wrapped up the recent Virginia leg of our Crazy Ladies Book Tour in the most charming of locations: Rosehips Beauty boutique and skin spa in Newport News.  The proprietor and beauty […] Read More