When I completed my PhD in 1987 I thought I would never attempt another project that required as much attention to detail, hard work, and commitment. I was wrong. Writing My Heart Is Not My Own has required all of the above. I’ve done my homework–four trips to Sierra Leone, phone calls and lengthy email […]
Musings
India diary pt. 2: on love and marriage and the importance of caste…
Prior to coming to India, I’d thought I would blog about sights, sounds and smells. Frankly, I’ve seen, heard and smelled more in Africa and Cambodia, or maybe I’ve just become used to travel in places where there are too many people, too much garbage and too much corruption. It’s all here, as it is […]
India diary–on love, marriage, and looking straight ahead…
After the ordered chaos of Hong Kong, India is the real deal: donkey-carts competing with Landcruisers, tuk-tuks and Toyotas. Dogs, cows and pigs rooting through garbage piled on street corners. Beggars camped under plastic sheets in roundabouts. Horn-honking dust-in-your-face mayhem. In the morning light I stand on a street corner, shooting photos. The men look […]
The Next Big Thing
Recently, Helen McClory of Shietree tagged me in The Next Big Thing that is going around the blogs. Helen’s prose and photos are so consistently lovely I read every one of her posts. My answers pertain to my upcoming novel, My Heart is Not My Own. Where did the idea come from for the book? […]
2012–a book deal, a new school, and dancing with the Mende
2012 was quite a year. We spent February in one of my favourite places—the island of Kauai. Four weeks of family visits and homemade ahi poke, countless waterfalls and all-day double rainbows. I had started pitching to agents and it was from Kauai that I began a conversation, via email, with Drea Cohane of The […]
Taking the back way through Sierra Leone
I hadn’t counted on National Cleanup Day. A country with no garbage pickup—no recycling. On windy days plastic bags swirl like leaves. But not on National Cleanup Day. The only vehicles on the roads belong to police, or the military or politicians. Everyone else is ordered to remain at home, sweeping one’s compound of trash. […]