I just finished Mark Chesnut’s Prepare for Departure, a travel writer’s humorous, warm memoir of journeying with his mother to the end of her life, due out in July. Absolutely delightful! You can read my Goodreads review or find it below. This would definitely constitute a lovely summer read! ___ Prepare for Departure is a memoir as real, heartwarming and humorous as Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie. Mark Chesnut offers a tour of life with his mother, a quirky, down-to-eart

Back in the day, long before my first novel publication (The Wind Thief), I craved to teach at the San Francisco Writers Conference. A big, huge melding of authors and aspiring writers, I wanted to be a part of sharing the adrenaline rush of producing stories people want to read. This year the conference will be in-person and I get to participate! I’ll be teaching the master class based on Growing Great Characters and will join these writers on a panel about dialogue: @Wendy

A friend of mine, Jayne Martin, is a master of flash writing, which is the art of depicting an entire story from start to finish in 100 words or less. A writer has to be on her game to pack an emotional punch within that word limit. It’s not surprising, then, that when she decided to write her own story, she chose do to so via flash writing. Her book, The Daddy Chronicles: Memoir of a Fatherless Daughter, was just published by Whiskey Tit Press. I just got my copy in the mail

Talk of war atrocities, scams and political shenanigans got you down? Have I got a podcast for you! Interesting Humans by Christain Ward (@ChristianRWard) focuses on humans who contribute goodness to the world instead of misery. Here’s Christian’s directive: “The Interesting Humans podcast is a deep dive into the mindset, the philosophy and the achievements of the people around us who have fascinating narratives to share. Join me as I explore with people I've met the challeng

Today is Mary Donahue’s birthday! That’s right, born April 13, 1963, Mary — the protagonist in Winter Light — turns 59 today. She’s appalled! And deep down delighted, because as a teen, she never expected to live this long or have such an interesting life. She still isn’t sporty, but walks daily to keep her cholesterol down. She’s disgusted beer now gives her indigestion. She’s become a voracious reader, though mostly of nonfiction revolving around history and current events,

My author friend, Annalisa Crawford, recently asked about the definition of “speculative memoirs.” I love such questions, because they cause me to learn something new. In general, memoirs are the recounting of people’s internal journeys in which they face ever-increasing challenges until experiencing an epiphany that changes their perspective on life. That’s as opposed to an autobiography where people recount what happened in their lives, typically in chronological order. Spe

CUSSING — OR NOT — MONDAY Do you think swearing is therapeutic? The question occurred to me when I was scrounging around for a Swahili swear word — for a story, of course — and came upon cussionary.com, a dictionary of cussing in a variety of languages. To me, such resources are awesome because seeing row upon row of foreign words for the same crude concept shows a certain universality akin to music. When we get upset, only a particularly rancid word seems capable of conveyin

When I was a kid, I loved reading Scott O’Dell’s 1960 Newbery Medal Award-winning novel Island of the Blue Dophins. Forever after, the story remained in my head, of the indigenous girl left behind with her brother when her people abandoned the island on which they lived. Not long after, her brother died, leaving her alone. Recently when driving along the coast in the Santa Barbara area, my friend pointed toward the Channel Islands offshore, and mentioned the book was based on

When on the island of Kauai in Hawaii recently, we met surf guru Bill Hamilton. He grew up in the 1950s in southern LA, where some of the first-ever West Coast surfers — World War II vets overcoming their combat trauma — took him under their surfing wing. Stepfather of big wave surfer Laird Hamilton (below), Bill is now 73 and is a long-time resident of Kauai, where he has a surfboard-shaping shop. He also makes art boards for private clients. The one pictured above is from a

I knew my author photo was getting old, but loathed the idea of getting a new one. Though I’m somewhat photogenic for informal cell phone shots, having a professional photographer focus her lens on me for long enough you have to actually think about how I’m standing and what I’m wearing is a whole other thing. Yikes! Fortunately my friend, @Vesna Mardešić, pointed me in the direction of her friend @Cyntia Apps, a professional photographer specializing in helping people and bu

When my husband and I lived in Madison, WI, where he went to grad school, we started reading The Onion, a hilarious, free satirical local magazine. Now based in Chicago, the “digital media and newspaper organization” regularly makes real news headlines when those without a sense of humor take the articles seriously, which is hilarious in itself. The pub covers news, entertainment, sports and opinions. If you haven’t partaken of this quick-witted commentary on American life,

All right, so the “must read” in this list featured on Bookglow — “all about books, all of the time” — is probably an exaggeration. But there have to be at least some you might like. If, that is, you like books set in Hawaii, which I do. And if you go to the web page, you’ll note the title actually states “11” books. I’m adding the book, Careless Love by Steve Zettler because of how well he captured Hawaii in the 1980s, which is when I first visited. That and the story and di

My friend recommended the movie, Soul Surfer based on the Kauai surfer girl who got her arm bitten off by a shark near the same area where I’m currently staying. (I’m trying not to think about that!). Apparently she was back in the water within a few weeks. An inspirational movie with great ocean footage, there’s no doubt Bethany Hamilton, pictured below, is a remarkable, resilient person. In the theme of Hawaii, I’ll also recommend the documentary titled The Legend of Eddie

When researching for this trip to Kauai, I remembered from my previous trip that the island has a lot of non-native wild boar and chickens. Like…all over the place. An article in News From the Coop mentioned the unofficial title of Kauai as the “eggs and bacon island,” which is a hilarious slogan! That said, the feral pig population causes a lot of trouble, which is why pig hunting there is now a thing. Here’s list of native animals I’ll also be on the lookout for: tortoises

What kind of traveler are you? My typical ratio is 20% planned activities that require reservations. The rest of the time is do-what-you-want, which includes an eclectic mix of everything from taking naps to taking off for a hike. I figure when people are on vacation, they should get to do what they want. Speaking of hikes… My family and I hiked Waimea Canyon some years ago. But we may try to do a longer hike on my current trip. Do you have any hiking recommendations? Or othe

Before the pandemic, we used to go to Hawaii regularly. I'm happy to say I'm vaccinated, boostered, masked, and as such, leaving for Hawaii today, and specifically Kauai. I’m going with some surfer friends in the hopes the surf will be manageable for at least a few of the days, given the north shores of Hawaiian islands experience notoriously big swells during the winter storm months. The day I booked my flight, however, Surfline, the website where you can check tides, wave h

I never tire of memoirs. I love learning about people and experiences that are vastly different than my own. That and there are so many types of memoirs: humorous; scientific; political; inspirational, etc. If you enjoy memoirs, check out Memoir Magazine for new reads. I learned about it recently when Melanie Faith (@writer_faith), one of my fellow authors Vine Leaves Press authors, posted about the publication. Dedicated to small presses, the pub sponsors the Memoir Prize fo

Nature magazine has just published The best science images of 2021. Fantastic doesn’t begin to describe these photos! They’re spectacular. There’s even a video depicting how black holes distort light from the gases around them. If you get a moment, the list is really worth a look-see. The photo above is by Emilio Morenatti and documents the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma in Spanish Canary Islands. ___ For updates about Martha’s books, news and giveaways, che

There are so many books on the market, it’s hard to know what to read. That’s why I tend to look for lists that are curated. Judges take the time to read the books and decide what to recommend, rather than being paid placements. In case you’re looking for recommendations, Goodreads has just published its 13th Choice Awards where the judges are readers. Where do you look for help in choosing books? ___ For updates about Martha’s books, news and giveaways, check out her website

Have you seen the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks yet? I recommend you do! The story is simple enough. Over time, lot of tough Western climbers are beaten back time and again when attempting 14 of the highest mountains in the world (over 26,000 feet). Then this group of Nepali climbers crush all of them in just seven months. The group is led by Nimsdai Purja, a Type A former military dude who gathers a small group of excellent mountaineering friends to carry out his Project Poss