My family spent the last week in Paris. We visited Notre Dame just a few days before the hammer-wielding terrorist attack there. We were in Paris during the London attacks. So let me tell you how I felt: GRIEF at the tragic loss of life, ANGER at the evil the terrorists were perpetrating, and STEELY RESOLVE to not let terror… Read More

Yesterday was magical. My book signing in a tiny Parisian bookshop, answering questions from a Parisian book blogger with the help of my French-speaking author assistant while signing books and bookplates (for ebooks) was a delightful dream I never even dared to have. Afterward, my family and I had a wonderful evening of dîner, wine, and lively, intellectual conversation at… Read More

I just converted a non-reader into a maybe-reader. Authors are always wondering how to “find” readers, but the true competition comes from stories in other forms. Netflix, movies, TV, games… all of these deliver the story experience in highly visual and interactive ways, and if you’re going to lure people into discovering the pleasures of long-form reading (novels or short… Read More

The House passage of the health bill yesterday, even with the Senate vowing it’s “dead on arrival,” continues to horrify me. They’re playing Trump supporters for fools, counting on them to never read below the headline and relying on the Senate to stop the worst of it so the House won’t pay the political price for dead voters. SCENE: Frat… Read More

“The Republican (heathcare) plan… rolls back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, could increase health care costs for an estimated 130 million Americans.” “premiums could reach as high as $25,700 per year for people in high-risk pools” But what counts as a pre-existing condition? Pregnancy… among about 50 other things (including medical complications from rape). So don’t be a Mom… Read More