A Tribute

Posted Jul 24 2008 in , ,

I lost my older sister yesterday. She was 58 years old. She’d battled brain cancer for years. For a while, she’d been winning. Yesterday, she didn’t. Yesterday, I received a call from the hospital near the nursing home she’d been living in for the past 2 years. She’d been in the hospital since Sunday night. […]

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The Princess is in The Pasture

Posted Jun 28 2008 in ,

There’s a horse in my pasture. Yup. A big red, warmblood mare. Normally, I board my horse, but I have a few acres, a nice barn, an arena, and a pasture, not to mention miles of trails right off my property. So I decided to bring her home for the weekend to eat the pasture […]

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A Technology-Free Weekend

Posted Jun 23 2008 in , ,

I spent the entire weekend at a horse show. I’m the type of person who is married to my cell phone and laptop so, of course, I brought them along. Here’s the amazing part. I didn’t use either of them once in three days and never missed them. Guess what I did? I socialized with […]

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Birthdays and Life and Memorial Day

Posted May 24 2008 in ,

I have a big birthday this Monday–Memorial Day. I can’t decide if there’s some kind of perverse humor in that or not. It’s one of those decade birthdays you’d just as soon forget about it. Regardless, May has been an excellent month for my husband and I. If fact, I don’t recall a time when […]

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Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction

Posted May 1 2008 in , , ,

Four years ago my husband went to Iraq. When he came back, he was a diabetic. You see, he was hit by a roadside bomb. The concussion damaged his pancreas. So one minute it worked and the next it didn’t. He was luckier than a lot of soldiers, at least he had his life, all […]

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What’s in a Pen Name

Posted Mar 30 2008 in ,

I’ve been asked lately by a few new writers why I chose to write under a pen name and how I came up with it. There are lots of reasons to consider a pen name if you’re a writer. Privacy was a consideration of mine. After all, I have aspirations of being a NYT bestseller […]

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San Juan Islands–Day 4 & 5

Posted Mar 28 2008 in , , ,

Sorry I didn’t post the last day, but we left early on Wed. to catch the ferry. Both “The Dance” and “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed” are set on a fictitious farm on Orcas Island that is in danger of being developed into a world-class resort. On Tuesday, Dennis and I drove to Deer […]

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San Juan Islands–Day 2

Posted Mar 24 2008 in , , , ,

Monday Morning Even though the weather report said rain all day, it barely rained at all. There were even periods of sunshine. We spent a lazy day, having lunch and dinner in the lounge and walking about the grounds. We also moved to another room. This was a much nicer room with a beautiful view […]

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Day One–San Juan Trip

Posted Mar 23 2008 in , , , ,

Dennis and I caught the 1:15 ferry to the San Juans yesterday. It was a beautiful ride over, pretty warm for this time of year, and sunny. The ferry trip was about an hour as we stopped at Lopez and Shaw Islands before we could depart at Orcas. Here’s my husband on the ferry trip […]

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The Last-MInute Adventure

Posted Mar 22 2008 in , , ,

Recently, my husband and I talked about a little trip for our anniversary, which is next month. Of course, I wanted to go to my favorite place and the setting for two of my books, Washington’s San Juan Islands. Thursday, I started checking reservation information and realized if we went to the San Juans before […]

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