Young Writer's Idea Box (Forthcoming, 2012): a boxed set of twenty-two writing lessons teachers can use as a stand-alone classroom writing center or for whole group instruction. Click here to view and print a sample lesson. .
Bet has been living a lie. She's tried to live a "normal" lifestyle. But now, her children have left home, and her marriage is in distress. She's determined to make it work, but it's not working. Enter George, her father-in-law, a forgetful, miserly, charmer who's loaned his girlfriend thousands and invited her to live with him. Unfortunately, the "girlfriend" has a pimp who threatens George's life. The family knows something has to be done. George moves out of his house and into Bet's. Her life is consumed with care-giving as the parent-child roles reverse. Meanwhile, her husband, Steve, grows increasingly distant.Bet thinks she will surely lose everything, including her mind. But while making room for George in her life, somewhere between the hundreds of eggs she cooks for him because he cannot chew and finding him digging in the dumpster trying to rescue his rat-infested belongings, somewhere between holding on to her misguided dependency on her husband and letting go to the new understanding of love she finds with another woman, Bet leaves the person she has tried to be behind and finally becomes herself.Under the Waning Moon: a novel in progress 2012
Charlie Raison, an obsessive-compulsive corporate organizer, has only two memories of her childhood before she turned eight years old: the day her mother changed their name and the day the police took her mother away. After her fiftieth birthday, something clicks. She begins to experience blackouts, waking up in places she doesn't recognize, having done things she would never do under ordinary circumstances. Dangerous things. She realizes her dark side may be winning when she's arrested and ordered into counseling. With her life spinning out of control, Charlie realizes that she has to face the trauma of her past in order to survive and heal the present.
