Wednesday, August 2, 2017: Driving from Tip to Tip We decide to drive around the island today. First, we head east towards Souris for Basin Head, also known as Singing Sands Beach. The sands are supposed to sing when you walk on them, but I’m disappointed. I barely hear a squeak. But the scenery more…
Category: Books
The PEI Adventures, Part 4
Monday, July 31, 2017. More Pretty Places and Lots of Eating. We get breakfast at a coffee shop called Beanz Cafe in downtown Charlottetown. Then we’re supposed to hike at the Winter Trail, but the trail isn’t marked clearly. We hike a bit, but decide to turn around before we get lost and no one…
The PEI Adventures, Part 3
Sunday, July 30, 2017. MY BIRTHDAY! Anne of Green Gables, Round 2 It’s the morning of my birthday, and….the cops pull us over. Turns out we’re going 80 kilometers per hour in a 50 kph zone. Now, 50 kph is equivalent to about 30 miles per hour, which is DAMN slow for LA drivers, especially…
The PEI Adventures, Part 2
Saturday, July 29, 2017. Anne of Green Gables, Round 1 This is the moment I am waiting for. MY. ENTIRE. LIFE. My bucket list item. To visit every Anne of Green Gables/L.M. Montgomery related site on Prince Edward Island. So Day 2 begins with a 30-minute drive from Charlottetown to Cavendish, which is the polar…
The PEI Adventures, Part 1
Prelude. July 2016. I always said I wanted to visit Prince Edward Island, but there was always some excuse not to make it happen. Not enough money. Not enough time. Can’t go by myself. Too scared. But then my 31st birthday passed, and something in me sparked. I didn’t want to live through another birthday…
My Summer 2016 Reading List
I have a huge TBR pile this summer, which consists mostly of young adult paranormal/fantasy, or retellings of classic literature/fairy tales. That’s just how I roll… Here’s my summer reading list. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler About: Elyse, a talented singer, loses her voice after an accident, so she goes to a town…
Goals for My First Writers Conference
In preparation for my upcoming writers conference, I’ve made a list of five goals I’d like to achieve. Since it’s my first conference, I’m not very sure what to expect, so I’m making my goals simple. Hopefully next year I can expand on them. Hand out 10 business cards. Attend 9 lectures. Have 8 meals…
Snapshot in a Coffee Shop (A Short Story)
The coffee grinds wafted by her nose before she even opened the door. Kaley’s eyes scanned the room, looking for a place to sit. Every table was occupied. She flipped through the calendar in her head, realized it was likely the week before finals, and remembered those days just a few years before when she’d…
Ice-Fingered Mists & Truffle-Topped Monasteries
I have a frenemy. Her name: Descriptive Writing. She is difficult to figure out, elusive and slippery, and sometimes I get the feeling that she despises me. At times she’s willing to have a heart-to-heart chat over coffee, only to rush off mid-sentence for no apparent reason. But then there are times when she bares…
What I’ve Been Working On
It’s been difficult to separate out the good critiques from the non-constructive ones. But when several people suggest splitting my book into two parts, I think that’s reason to believe the suggestion is valid. So after a long inner debate with myself, I chopped my story in half and started working on making the first…
Book Review: The Unattainable Dream of Normal by Katie Kaleski
Overall Rating: 4/5 One Sentence Sum-Up: At summer camp, a guy with Tourette’s Syndrome meets a girl who had an eating disorder, and they fall in love. Plot and Style: I loved that this story was filled with real-life problems. The writing style, though simple, felt authentic and down to earth, like a conversation with normal…
Book Review: Summer of Firsts by Chen Yan Chang
First, let me say that this author is like the Queen of Critiques, and I must hail the queen. “All hail the queen!” Seriously though…she’s helped me critique two of my stories and offered such great insight. I’m just sorry that it took me so long to find time to do the same for her….
Untold Tales by a Whimsical Wallflower 