If you aren't signed up to receive my quarterly newsletter, you may not have seen the shows I am currently participating in during the Holiday season. So, here they are:

November 03 - Granite State Choral Society -
Holiday Show
9 - 3pm - Rochester Community Ctr, 150 Wakefield St., Rochester, NH

November 23, 24, 25 - Castle in the Clouds   Holiday Show
10 - 4:30pm - 455 Old Mountain Rd., Moultonborough, NH

December 01 - Prospect Mountain High School - Holiday Show
9 - 2pm - 242 Suncook Valley Rd (Rte 28),  Alton, NH

All of these shows are free to the public. Come in and do your holiday shopping! Only 63 days until Christmas!!!! Yikes!! Stop by to say "Hi!" and purchase my latest book, or a mini original piece of artwork, or commission me to do an animal portrait. Don't wait until the last minute!

On Thursday, October 11 from 5-7pm, I will be one of three authors making a presentation at Winnipesaukee Winery in the antiques barn next to the 1810 House B&B in Wolfeboro, NH (Rte 28). The event (cost is $20) will include a glass of fine wine from the winery plus a variety of hors d'oeuvres and an opportunity to purchase personally autographed books from me, Kristina Schram, and K.M. Doherty. Remember, Christmas is coming!

I recently visited our local bookstore, one of my favorite places to hang out, and found a display rack of Roald Dahl books. Although most of the books I’ve read recently have been determined by the free books I find at our local swap shop, I decided to purchase a couple of these paperback treasures. Although I am in the middle of one novel, I started to read “The BFG” and before I knew it, I couldn’t put it down.

Since I've been meeting more people through the writing groups I've been involved with, I've heard many people talk about their story and putting it into a book. Memoir is very popular these days with many people telling their stories, including myself. But beyond that one book, why do people write? I read a collection of authors talking about why they write about themselves. Each had their own story with many of them sharing the same reasons. The majority said they wrote because they had to and they didn't know how to do anything else.

 Since my sister-in-law, Kathy, and I both enjoy reading children's books, we are always sharing the latest book each of us have read. Therefore, I was pretty excited when I received "Ghost Knight" by Cornelia Funke in the mail from Kathy.

I had just read a book by Funke, that Kathy had recommended, so I was a little familiar with her writing. This one was different. Ghost Knight was based on mostly real characters from the 1500's and before. Even the main characters of Jon and Ella were taken from real-life characters that Ms. Funke knew.