#openbookbloghop

Stolen from Deanna Martinez-Bey and Writer’s Digest: What is on your joy list? Right now, walking is at the top of my joy list. I had a right hip replacement exactly one month ago. I had such intense burning pain for so long, especially during the move, that mobility was getting harder yet sitting too much was giving me sciatica issues. My GP in the States never did any imaging when I complained…

Do you prefer pie or cake? Have you ever included either in your writing? Do I really have to choose? haha I have a complicated relationship with desserts. When I was a kid, my Sicilian grandmother visited with us every weekend and always brought a ton of baked goods. Pistachio cake, ricotta pie, and usually a box of “Italian” cookies from the local bakery, made with anisette in pastel colors,…

March 9, 2026 How much of yourself do you share with your readers? How much do you hide? I write fiction, so I’m unsure how to answer this question. Every word is me, myself. It’s also fiction, made up, not real. Realistic, yes. It exists on the page and in the mind of both the reader and myself for a short time. I think sometimes writers put a lot of themselves on the page thinking they’ve…

From one of Kelly’s readers: What keeps you motivated on tough writing days, and is there a moment in your journey so far that completely surprised you? For me, the tough writing days are the non-writing days, especially when they begin to stack up. Moving, work, health issues can put a stop to writing momentum. When I was young, I was lucky to have encouragement from teachers and workshops.…

Jan van Eyck Filippo Lippi What person/place/thing did you enjoy researching the most? Ardent (published by Manifold Press which has since folded ☹) is the book I enjoyed researching the most. It’s gay romantic suspense whose setting is the artists’ workshops of Florence during the Renaissance. My mother was an artist with her own studio, so I grew up around the smell of oil paint and…

Winter is coming to the northern part of the world. (It’s here!). Do you have any plans, or do you prefer to hide from the cold? We are hiding from the cold in Portugal, hopefully for the rest of our lives. It’s been snowing in Maine since—what, Halloween? I’m a life-long New Englander and never thought I’d ever leave. This is our first winter here, and we haven’t yet experienced a Portuguese…