Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Over twenty years ago, Clare and I sat in the cafe at Immaculate Heart of Mary High School and came up with two characters. I came up with Aerin Stargazer, a world weary mercenary who's caught up in forces much larger than herself and she's not too happy about it. Clare came up with Robyn Piper, a Bard touched by magic and dedicated to the helping the forces of the Light. In all reality, Robyn and Aerin were actually just a summer entertainment. Every summer of my childhood we'd pack up and ship out to our family summer home and Clare would stay in Oak Park. So, we came up with these characters as a way to keep in touch over the summer. Clare started. She wrote me a letter from Robyn's perspective telling about a search for star bearers. I still have that lavishly illustrated letter in my office. Aerin wrote back, telling her friend all about her adventures. Several years later, hundreds of pages and we had . . . well, we had a mess, but an entertaining mess all the s...

I probably shouldn't even be writing right now. It's been one of those days. You know the ones. Where everything you seem to touch explodes into hot tiny fragments to spray everyone. There is no such thing as friendly fire and today I seem to be drawing a truck load. Snarky comments, irritated kids, delays and shifting plans seem to be peppering me left and right from the trees. It might have a little to do with the weather. It's one of those dark, dreary days when it's just too easy to see the dark side of everything. Of course, I'm not Little Miss Mary Sunshine on a normal day. I've also had to be the upbeat one in the family lately. Not my natural milieu. I'm a realist. With a healthy dash of pessimisn thrown in for good measure. I know, it doesn't seem to make sense for a writer, does it? I happen to be a list of fascinating little contradictions. You may send sympathy cards to my husband, if you like. Time to stop messing around. I'm expecte...