Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

 It's the first Wednesday of the Month, and that means time for our Insecure Writers Support Group posts!   Purpose:   To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting:   The first Wednesday of every month is officially   Insecure Writer’s Support Group   day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!   Don't forget you can post your link on the IWSG Facebook page !   Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG   The awesome co-ho

I got my tip for these books from a regular poster on the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there.      Title: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise Author: Dan Gemeinhart. Read by Khristine Hvam Publication Info: Macmillan Audio, 2019. 9 hours (original hardback by Henry Holt & Co, 352 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, crisscrossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished - the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box - she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,6

I've been away so much I've accumulated photos far faster than I can edit them. But I've made a super effort and have a set of images for you from Moraine Lake and Larch Valley for your viewing pleasure this weekend. I went up there with my brother- and sister-in-law in late September, and we caught the larches turning just about perfectly. As always when I travel with them, I also will direct you to my brother-in-law's web page, Photoseek.com , where you can see the REALLY good photos. I shared photos from our first stage, in Kananaskis Country , a few weeks ago. Then we moved to Banff NP. Our first hike after moving HQ to Lake Louise campground was to Larch Valley, out of Moraine Lake. It had rained on us the day before, which meant snow in the even slightly higher country, an exciting prospect for the photographers. There is no longer any general parking allowed at Moraine Lake, at least during peak seasons (and yes, late September is a peak season, thanks to the lar

I've been pretty quiet for quite a while, and it's time I got back on the blogging schedule! I've been enjoying some great trips--I even got to see Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS from a perch in the Grand Canyon! And followed it up with several days in the Bay Area with my kids, engaging in some house-hunting on their behalf, which is both fun and stressful as all get out. As a result, very little writing has happened (again). I did work a little on the poor sad short story that keeps getting shunted aside in favor of another hike, and of course, the new book has a cover, is formatted, and--ta-da! -- has a release date! So here it is:  It's available November 18, just in time to give copies as Christmas presents! So that's pretty cool. I still have some tinkering to do with the formatting but it is substantially finished--and I'm really excited, both for the release and to be working on the next book! Edited Out has been patiently waiting its turn for revisions, and Bo

This is a flashback flash fiction piece from 2016, a bit of (maybe) harmless Halloween fun...   Witching Weather   “Fog’s rising.” Jack made the observation in a detached sort of way, not sure if it mattered.   “More fun that way,” Jill answered. If he was unsure about the weather, she was not. She straightened the tall, pointed hat that kept threatening to tumble from her head. “It sets the right sort of mood.”   The boy and girl grinned at each other. Both wore sweeping black robes, rather in the fashion of the students of Hogwarts. A close observer might have even thought they had come from the costume shop, but with the fog settling in and the daylight gone, no one could be sure. Jack wore a silver circlet around his forehead, while Jill sported the afore-mentioned pointed hat.   “At least half the kids will be spooked before we even begin,” Jill said, eyes aglow with excitement.   Jack nodded, seeing her point. “And the other half will be spo

While I'm away, I'm running some flash fiction from years gone by. This story from 2013 came from one of the prompts Chuck Wendig used to run weekly on his blog, Terribleminds.com (I believe it was a random selection of a psychic power). It seems a good choice of story as we approach Halloween, being one of my few ventures into horror (ish) that doesn't turn comic. It's a little long at 1090 words, though I tightened it up a bit. The Choker   I was with Brian when it began. I knew something had happened, but when he said nothing, I let it slide. That was my first and biggest mistake, but we who have these powers are slow to speak of them, and with reason.   Brian had taken me with him to shop for a birthday present for his wife. She liked old jewelry—not necessarily antiques, but old. Brian had seen a shop he thought looked promising. You know the kind: half junk store, half antique shop, where a few good bits may be mixed in with a ton of tra

I'm off again to get more trail time and, with luck, some great photos of one of my special places, the Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, you can enjoy these initial shots from my September trip to the Canadian Rockies. We started our trip (the real stuff, not the long drive from Seattle) in the Kananaskis Country, a collection of Provincial Parks east of Banff, but still hanging out in some spectacular mountains. Here are a few highlights from the first few days. For those who like logistics, I was traveling with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. They rented a camper, which gave us a warm place to sit and eat on often chilly (and once or twice wet) days, and provided suitable sleeping accommodations when we were at Lake Louise hard-sided campground later, where tents are not permitted. My little car gave us mobility. On first arriving, I did a quick hike up King Creek Ridge, an excessively steep hike that reminded me that I was no longer at sea level. View SW from the ridge Kananaskis L