Take a look at the Natural History Museum blog for a description and photos of Monday’s field trip for Museum docents to the Elkhorn Slough reserve. We got to see the greenhouse and participate in planting starts for a native rye grass. Winter is the season when native plants will be set out, after they’re … More Museum docents at Elkhorn Slough

It’s April Fool’s Day, but this isn’t a trick post. I’m sitting here listening to birds outside my window, expressing their delight (or so I imagine) in the sunny spring weather we’re experiencing after the deluge and flooding we had last week. Yesterday afternoon I went to the first session of a field trip style … More Not a joke

Since the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan I’ve been having a mixture of thoughts and feelings about the situation. First of all, the loss of life and destruction is almost more than I can comprehend. And at the same time, I’m amazed that so many people survived a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Having experienced our … More Thoughts on Japan

After my recent sojourn into the realms of physics, down to the smallest energy/particle units and out to infinity and parallel universes, I’ve just been grounded again by reading Becoming Animal by David Abram. It’s a beautiful vision of this Earth in (not on) which we live, and of the sentience we share with all … More Back on Earth

My interest in learning more about the idea of parallel universes led me to In Search of the Multiverse; Parallel Worlds, Hidden Dimensions, and the Ultimate Quest for the Frontiers of Reality by John Gribbin, a physicist and popular science writer. He discusses all of the above. Apparently the Multiverse is a widespread idea among … More The Multiverse; Parallel Universes Revisited

Thanks to my friend and critique partner, Claudia Finseth, I was recently reminded of the excellent book Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King. Claudia pointed out the advice on dialogue and it made me go back and look at the dialogue in the books I’ve written. Browne and King recommend that almost … More Revising. “He said. She said.”

Last weekend I had the opportunity to join a tour, sponsored by the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum, of some of the sand hill habitat in Scotts Valley. This was part of the museums Connect with Nature series and there are still three more weeks. Before volunteering at the museum I didn’t know much about … More Santa Cruz sand hills

I attended this week-long workshop last year and it was amazing in so many ways. Two great instructors. Seven other participants who became friends and ongoing critique partners. Critique and feedback on the whole novel. Time to write and revise every day, and time for group learning and sharing. I wish I could go back … More Highlights Whole Novel Workshop for Fantasy

In my book, Wandering Time, Zoe believes that travel to alternate realities or parallel universes happens by magic, her mother, with her psychology background, thinks it’s a shared delusion because Granny Rae has Alzheimer’s disease. But Granny Rae looks for an explanation in modern physics theories about parallel universes. This is a concept which has … More Parallel universes?

When I started writing, I had the idea that it was correct to use two spaces after a period. However, after submitting my first manuscript for editorial advice, I learned that one space is preferred. I just saw this interesting blog on Slate, called Space Invaders. It discusses the issue with lots of links, including … More Two spaces after a period?