My excitement rose in tandem with the altitude of the easyJet airplane that would fly 100 or so passengers, including my son and me, from Montpellier, France, to Gatwick Airport outside London. Our destination was the London Book Show, a three-day event in March that is one of the largest book shows in the world. Like other attendees, I was dazzled by the grandeur of the venue—the cavernous Kensington Olympia Hall—boasting over a thousand exhibitors and drawing an estimated 15,000 guests from around the globe. This year’s event was a testament to the evolving landscape of the publishing industry, where technological advancements are reshaping traditional norms. The Big Five Upon entering the show, I was impressed by the spacious floorplans

Do you observe the Sabbath? One day out of seven, do you step away from daily tasks and activities to reflect? To make sense of life? To find meaning and purpose? To go to a house of worship? When I was a single parent and breadwinner for my family and working at a job requiring an hour-plus commute daily, I couldn’t rest on Sunday. At best, I could carve out a few hours in the afternoon to play with my sons—maybe roller-skate in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco or hike in the hills above Berkeley. But even if I took this time, I still had to squeeze in whatever remained from Saturday’s chores. Maybe I’d need to finish the

When I wrote Blackbird, the first of four memoir-based novels, I had no idea that the process would impact me in the way it has. I didn’t write a memoir to create a legacy for my three children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. I have neither encouraged nor discouraged them from reading Blackbird or my subsequent novels, My Mother’s Daughter, The Perfect Mother, and The First and Last Lesson. (The fourth book will be available this summer.) Instead of a legacy, I hoped that sharing events in my life in fictional memoir form would be freeing for me and simultaneously inspire other women who’d gone through similar traumas. Sharing One’s Truth In shaping the events into a story, I was

In Christianity, the word gospel refers specifically to the “good news” about the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the son of God, who was sent to earth to save humankind. But the word gospel preceded this definition. According to Britannica, the word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term god-spell, meaning “good story,” a rendering of the Latin evangelium and the Greek euangelion, meaning “good news” or “good telling.” Over time, an additional meaning of gospel as “a set of principles or beliefs” has evolved. This is the definition that I’m referring to when sharing my GOSPEL of productivity. The steps represent hard-learned strategies. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to books and presentations that

Stephen Stills released the song “Love the One You’re With” in 1970. He was reportedly at a party when he heard singer Billy Preston say, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with,” and it caught his attention. After getting Preston’s permission to use the phrase, he brilliantly wrote a song around it. I don’t know when I first heard the expression, and I don’t remember hearing Stills’s song. Consequently, I was dumbfounded when the expression kept repeating itself in my head during the holidays. And even now I hear it. Obviously, the advice encourages a person to appreciate the partner they are with rather than foolishly longing for the lover who got away.

Specifically, I need somebody—hopefully you—to take a few minutes to write a review on Amazon for my three novels. It can be a few words or a few sentences. Your comments will be incredibly useful to potential readers who are trying to figure out whether the books are right for them. If you need help crafting your sentences, let me know. Stringing words together is my current preoccupation. The mechanics of writing a review are simple. Click on one of the following links: Blackbird My Mother’s Daughter The Perfect Mother Scroll down and look for “Customer reviews” on the left side of the page. Underneath it, click on “Write a customer review.” Select a star rating. Write your comment. Click