I know. Anybody who has ever known me will look at that title and laugh. I hate to plan anything. Because of my ADD, I have–resentfully–learned to make lists and rely on calendars. But how much fun can planning be? When it leads to a trip to India or Ireland or Chile is at the… Read More

If you sit with me for more than ten minutes, you’ll figure out that my background is unapologetically Irish. My great-grandfather was a member of the Flying Brigades of the IRA in the 1870’s and, according to the family, escaped Ireland one step ahead of the law for blowing up a statue of King George… Read More

I think that’s pretty true of everything, from travel to Christmas. The reality is never quite as sharp and sparkly as it is in your expectation. Well, maybe once when I saw Richard Burton in Camelot. My friend Vicki called from Chicago to say Burton was going to be touring there in Camelot. He was… Read More

This being the part of the discussion where I admit to my slow descent to the dark side. I was falling in love with research. I was beginning to change my relationship with it. Along about my fourth suspense, I found myself learning something in a forensic course about arson and thinking that I had… Read More

When I first wrote for publication, I sucked at research. I admit it. I never really learned how to use a university library. I’m a nurse. Nurses didn’t really read extensively on a subject. We played with things. To make it worse, I’m a triage nurse. Kind of like a Jeopardy champion. We know a… Read More

It isn’t enough to see a new place or meet new people. Half the fun is eating. At least for me. So, when I speak of the trips I’ve taken, I will also speak of the food, the drink, the atmosphere. I’ve already included recommendations on my website for restaurants I’ve enjoyed in different places…. Read More

Thank heavens for my coffeehouse. (WIRED in South St. Louis County). The truth of the matter is that I have trouble organizing breakfast. And right now I’m in the middle of a trilogy that is taxing a brain already burdened with ADD, family, aged parents, publishing business, travel planning, all the little business a household… Read More

Yes, I have the wonderlust. But so do a lot of people I know. People I’ve heard all my life say,”You know, someday I’m going to go.” To Ireland, to Italy, to Branson. Someday, when the responsibilities are gone. When the money is just right. When the portents are good and the winds in the… Read More

I’m always telling people how much I yearn for adventure. For new experiences. For travel to new and exotic places. Don’t get me wrong. I love St. Louis. I like being in the same city as my entire family. But it has long since been a widely acknowledged truth that I was born with the… Read More

Funny, but this is the way I always think of it. I wasn’t born in Ireland. Neither were my parents or grandparents. But from the time I can remember, I was always going to go ‘back’ to Ireland. It might be because that was the way my Grandpa spoke, and my mother. As if we’d… Read More