Meet Rosie – an adventurous beagle with a slight overbite adopted by a new middle schooler named Clare and her single dad, Sammy. Travels with Rosie: A Dog’s Adventure will be the first book in a series told from the adult canine’s point of view. 

Young readers will love following Rosie from the time she is a young pup leaving her siblings and breeder to becoming part of a single father’s household where teamwork, the love of books and food, and travel are the threads the bond daughter and father.  

Rosie and Clare are inseparable forming a strong bond, especially as Clare transitions to middle school and navigates a two-home family dynamic. Once Rosie is out of her “puppy bubble” the adventures begin with a weekend trip to Carmel where Rosie is introduced to the beach and sand castles for the first time. She also manages to find a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Rosie’s nose just can’t help but get her in trouble. The next family adventure takes Rosie to San Francisco and Alcatraz where they discover Al Capone’s secret getaway tunnel while staying at the St. Francis Hotel in Union Square. As Rosie becomes more comfortable and adept at traveling, the family adventures progress to San Diego (California), Cesena (Italy), Dublin (Ireland), and concludes in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

In my late teens, I set out on a quest for meaning in the modern world and to learn how to write, reading John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. As a young adult, I read New Age books from teachers that include Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Napoleon Hill, and Viktor Frankl. I was on some kind of spiritual journey. I believe this to be true now. And I believe writing and teaching about writing are somehow part of this journey that the Universe or God has sent me on. 

Over the past 30 years, I have studied literature receiving English degrees from UC Berkeley and Stanford University; I have written papers and lectured on Jack Kerouac and William Saroyan; I have taught college English and creative writing for 15 years; and I have produced unpublished essays, poems, and short stories; and I have completed a manuscript of a memoir that took me 10 years to write. During all of this, I have worked in high-tech marketing for some of the world’s largest companies.  

Then in 2024, with the idea for a middle grade novel (inspired by my tween daughter and our beagle) something started to happen as I began to write each day . . . I discovered the practice of Creative Balance. From my previous attempts at writing and as a college instructor teaching writing, I understood the art of writing as a practice – and that it takes discipline. Indeed, it was a consistent and disciplined writing practice that allowed me to finish a draft of my memoir over a ten-year period while having a full-time job in marketing. After starting the writing of the middle grade novel, I took everything I had learned about spirituality, meditation, teaching, and writing and, almost instinctively, organized it in my mind into seven simple steps. I started following the steps myself and then everything began to change in the most incredible way. I started to see my writing grow; I started to become absorbed in my work on a daily basis; and I started to train my brain to drive me towards the desired future I imagined for myself and family.  

Writing a memoir, novel, or collection of short stories is difficult business. Then factor in that most aspiring writers have full-time jobs, families, and other obligations. We work long hours with a multitude of demands pulling us in different directions. We struggle – on a daily basis – to barely find time for self-care or a healthy meal let alone for our creative work, for our writing practice.

It’s a struggle to develop and stay with a consistent writing practice. We constantly look for an excuse to stop and get up from our desk. We’ve become masters at spending valuable time thinking about writing, or even writing about not writing. Then you get going real good for a few days, a long weekend, during your vacation, then (once again) lose momentum. You think about quitting, but you don’t. Why not? Because writing is your passion, your lifeblood, one of your first thoughts in the morning and one of your last thoughts before you drift to sleep. 

Repeat after me: “I am a writer.”

Now repeat: “I am a writer with a daily writing practice.”

If you embrace these statements, then the 7 steps to living the creative life will give you the confidence to trust in your ability to CREATE – TO WRITE – TO GROW as a person with a sense of purpose. Writing will shift from something you are trying to do, to something you are. And you will start living in a way that reflects your most authentic self.

With each new day, we honor ourselves and our writing practice. With each sunrise, we rise into our Creative Balance practice. 

Continue uncovering my 7-step guide to Creative Balance today.