Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

I wrote a partial draft of this during the last session of the writing class I've been teaching, then realized I needed a different approach, so I rewrote it, cut it down by several hundred words (it's still too long, at 1140 words), and here it is.    Seatmates Keri James settled into the window seat at 47A with an air of excitement that drew cynical smiles from her fellow-passengers. A sixteen-hour flight in economy class wasn’t going to be fun for any of them. Keri knew that. They’d have to use a crowbar—or a crane—to get her out of her seat when they reached Aukland. She’d drooled over the business-class seats, with their little cubicles and seats that made up into beds. On her budget, she’d have to settle for airsickness meds that would put her to sleep. Keri occupied herself with setting up her little space, everything she might want during the flight within reach. She’d change to slippers once they were airborne. Earbuds, e-reader… she knew what she was doing. I...

I'm posting this morning with the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop. The hop is sponsored by  Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  I believe it was Jemima Pett  who tipped me off last month with a review of Dahl's memoirs. Many thanks! First up, the early years:    Title: Boy: Tales of Childhood Author:   Roald Dahl, read by Dan Stevens Publication info : Books on Tape, 2013, 3 hours. Originally published 1984, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 160 pages. Source : Library Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads) : Where did Roald Dahl get all of his wonderful ideas for stories? From his own life, of course! As full of excitement and the unexpected as his world-famous, best-selling books, Roald Dahl's tales of his own childhood are completely fascinating and fiendishly funny. Did you know that Roald Dahl nearly lost his nose in a car accident? Or that he was once a chocolate candy tester f...

Way back in January (feels like forever--I've been home for over a month! How can I bear it!), I took a little trip down to Sedona, Arizona, to find a bit more sun and daylight. The weather cooperated, mostly, and my friend Jan and I had a good time. Funny thing about Sedona: because I'm not into the New Age aspects of the place, I've tended to avoid it (well, also because that New Age stuff draws a lot of tourists during the season). January proved a reasonable time to go--though there were plenty of tourists around, they weren't overwhelming. And the landscape is sufficiently amazing that it needs no mystical stuff to make it a place to visit. The trip started with an amazing flight south (in part because it wasn't full and I had a whole row to myself!). It was very clear and very calm and the pilot got permission for a close fly-by of Mt. Rainier. How close? Close enough it was almost scary! If there'd been climbers on the mountain, I'm pretty sure I coul...

  What I have today might be a question. Maybe it's just an observation. Maybe it's a deep-seated flaw in how I work. Here's the thing: everything I read, and indeed my own logic, tells me to do big-picture edits without messing with the prose. But here's my reality: I can't. If I see how to improve a sentence or spot confusion about who's speaking, I have to (at the very least) mark it for fixing. If I have a sudden realization of how to reword something, I have to do it now, because that insight may never come my way again (even if I leave a bookmark). Is this a problem? The reality is that most of my original prose stays in the finished book, albeit rather polished up. But it's there. So very little of that work is wasted.  But wait--isn't it distracting me from the more important (at the moment) task of fixing the story arc? Well, probably? That actually isn't a helpful observation, since I don't seem able to restrain myself. And maybe there...

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. One of the areas I often read in is natural history or ecology. In this case, the ecological survival of the planet. Sometimes what I read gives me hope. Sometimes it reminds me that it may already be too late. This book did both.   Title: Guardians of the Trees: A Journey of Hope Through Healing the Planet Author: Kinari Webb, M.D. Publication info: Macmillan Audio, 2021, 11 hours. Original Flatiron Books 2021, 304 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads) : When Kinari Webb first traveled to Indonesian Borneo at 21 to study orangutans, she was both awestruck by the beauty of her surroundings and heartbroken by the rainforest destruction she witnessed. As she got to know the local communities, she realized that their need to pay for expensive healthcare led directly to the rampant logging, which in turn imperiled their health and safety even further. Webb realized her true calling was at the intersection of med...

True to my promise, I'm working on writing flash fiction again for your reading pleasure! I drafted this a couple of weeks ago at the writing class I'm teaching, and spiffed it up a bit, cutting it down to 1000 words.  I've had laryngitis all week, which is amazingly frustrating. It's a good thing I mostly don't have anyone to talk to or I'd go nuts! Anyway, the next story might need to include someone who can't speak, but thinks a lot :D Invincible   Marla surveyed the building while she pulled on a hairnet and tied a scarf tightly over top of that. Not a hair would escape to say she’d been there, let alone provide a DNA tracer. Gloves, long sleeves, the works. No traces. With one last look around for observers, though who could see anything through the stygian darkness of a blackout on a rainy night was a mystery she didn’t care to solve, Marla began to climb. Buying the blackout had been the risky part, but by the time it was done the bribes were at...

I'm posting this morning with the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop. The hop is sponsored by  Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.     I got my recommendation for this author from one of my fellow MMGM bloggers a few weeks ago. Today I'm reviewing  Holding On for Dear Life   and  Dust,  by Dusti Bowling.    Title : Holding on for Dear Life 
Author: Dusti Bowling. Read by Jay Reum 
Publication Info : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025. 5 hours. (Hardcover is 240 pages) 
Source: Library 

Publisher’s Blurb:  Thirteen-year-old Canyon loves bull riding, but the sport doesn't exactly love him back. His body is in constant pain and doctors have warned him about the dangers of his repeated concussions, but bull riding is the only thing he and his dad connect on ever since Canyon's mom died. Canyon is convinced winning the Junior World Bull Riding champion...