Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

  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...

This is the 3rd and final post from my  backpacking trip into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness last August.  Here's the report on the  first two days   and here's the 2nd report, on days 3 and 4. Day 5: Oly Lake to Rough Lake This day started with another beautiful sunrise.  For those of you who wonder, this is a big part of why I haul a heavy load into the mountains and sleep on the ground--because it's darned hard to see sunrise at a remote lake on a dayhike. Early light reflected in Oly Lake. Sunrise reflections in Oly Lake. Our route leads up that cleft in the rocks across the lake. It was a relief to wake to calm winds and mostly clear skies, because we'd had a pretty impressive storm at bedtime the night before. Little did we know, that was just the warm-up.    We had a short hike before us, though we knew it wouldn't be fast, so we didn't leave camp until 8:15. We were heading up the creek and over the mountain (back across the divide anyway)...

 Today's the first Wednesday of the month and IWSG posting day.  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 (and come on, we're all insecure in some way)! 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 writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to the IWSG page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Otherwise, when you leave a comment, p...

I picked this book up at the library because my brother was reading it (we both sometimes share Mom's account for ebooks, so we see what everyone's reading--sometimes it's fun to guess who's reading what) and it looked interesting. I wasn't wrong.   Title :  And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II 
 Auth or: Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee 
Publication Info : e-book 2007 Anchor (Original hardback 2003 by Knopf, 514 pages). 
 Source : Library   

Publisher’s Blurb (from Amazon) :  In World War II, 59,000 women voluntarily risked their lives for their country as U.S. Army nurses. When the war began, some of them had so little idea of what to expect that they packed party dresses; but the reality of service quickly caught up with them, whether they waded through the water in the historic landings on North African and Normandy beaches, or worked around the clock in hospital tents on the Italian front as bombs fell all around the...