Musings + more love for Shinbone Lane

I’ve been mostly recuperating from a long period when I seemed to catch every virus going around in my area. And they were virulent. This depleted me. However, I’m now on the mend, regaining equilibrium.

Meanwhile, I haven’t done much to re-engage with my colleagues and readers. And forget any sort of strategic book marketing—all the do’s and don’ts. It’s a challenge, isn’t it, to decide where to put time and effort when the number of social media platforms, shared workspaces, podcasts, webinars and other things available in our digital age is overwhelming?

I want to have more in-person get-togethers like before COVID disrupted life as we knew it: in-person critique groups, intimate craft workshops, group lunch dates, long talks over tea and sweets, spontaneous shopping excursions.

Good Things

Despite my inertia, some good things have come my way lately.

First, Shinbone Lane received a Literary Titan Gold Book award shortly after having received a five-star review from that organization. My novel is displayed, along with other winners on this page: https://literarytitan.com/2026/03/06/literary-titan-gold-book-award-fiction-20/

Second, Shinbone Lane just won a first place BookFest award for Literary Fiction – SciFi and Fantasy: https://www.thebookfest.com/award_entries/shinbone-lane/

Beyond Writing

My granddaughters just got alien stuffies and named them Kevin and Toot.

I captured a rainbow the other day. These sightings always bring a sense of wonder.

My sister and I attended a No Kings rally on March 28. This photo was taken at the very end. Cotati’s Hub was packed for most of the morning.