Even in this capitol of the Confederacy, Peter mused that we would probably have something in common with the other John Prine concert-goers, perhaps like ou...

I am excited to introduce my new book trailer for Gina in the Floating world, produced with the help of the talented Melissa Dee. It may seem odd that I've c...

Jeanne Blasberg’s recently released second novel, The Nine (She Writes Press), is a compelling modern-day tale inspired by the biblical story of Hannah and h...

I’m not sure when I first got the idea that I wanted to create an exhibit of images that related to my novel, Gina in the Floating World. I do know that I ma...

Pack your bags. It’s summer, and it’s the longest day, when your thoughts may turn not only to where you will vacation but also to what you will read. Person...

This post is my third family remembrance in just over three weeks. The three members of my nuclear family all died in the springtime, and each year, on the a...

Today is the 19th anniversary of the death of my mother. In 2010, I wrote this post in remembrance of her in a blog I maintained for several years called "M...

March 16 is the sixteenth anniversary of the death of Beth Brett, my sister, and mother to Pippa. On the eighth anniversary of her death, Pippa (who lives in...

On the cold, dark days of winter, with snow and ice on the ground, I achieve my daily 10,000 Fitbit steps by jogging (slowly) in front of the TV. For a while...

During my stay in Japan several decades ago when I was a bar hostess, I lived in a room over a club. The place had only a toilet and sink downstairs. To bath...

On this Valentine’s Day, not long before the Oscar ceremony, I was thinking about films that portray complex relationships of various kinds, not just romanti...

The first draft of my novel, Gina in the Floating World, reflected my own experiences as a foreign bar hostess in a Tokyo suburb in the mid-1970s. As an expe...

I’m always intrigued by those films that are “inspired by” or “based on” true events. As a writer who likes to use my own life as a jumping off point for my...

The start of the new year is a good time for a reckoning. For me 2018 was all about the BOOK—the book being my novel, Gina in the Floating World, that was pu...

Growing up, the one consistent holiday tradition my family maintained was listening to a recording of Dylan Thomas reading “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” I ...

In her later years, my mother made her gift shopping a little easier by buying each family member a special book. If you know someone's interests, books make...

Thanksgiving is a time when families, for better or worse, come together. This holiday prompted me to consider how important families are in the stories we w...

As a child, I loved maps and fantasized about that time when I could explore the world. Perhaps because I was born in another country, emigrating to the USA ...

Some months ago, a writer friend gave me a little notebook with a Japanese design on the cover to record my preparation for the launch of Gina in the Floatin...

For those of you who missed my book launch at Porter Square Books on October 2, 2018, I present below the text of my presentation. In general, I am not a goo...