The focus of my writing has always been; what’s under the rock. I have uncovered treasure under the rock, sometimes it is ugly, obscene, and shameful. Sometimes it has beauty and humor.  I am drawn to the dark and creepy places, maybe its the humor I find there. To bring these things to the light requires a little magic. Magic in the form of touching the unknown and the unknowable. But it is accessible to us all for that magic resides in our collective human experience. For instance, in writing about a character who is suffering from psychosis, she might touch her unknowable through hallucinations. Some of you have met her, Karin Olina in Magel’s Daughter, my first book.

Her mother Magel, is the matriarch of psychosis, thus giving rise to her daughter’s lunacy. Story telling in magical realism has its challenges and rewards. I recently saw the film August in Osage County. That story is realism–raw and dark. My story is all of that yet brings in a touch of magic; these women come from a long line of witches–Norwegian witches. Yes, they exist. Magel differs from the Meryl Streep character in that her dysfunction is hilarious–if not a bit crazy. Haunted by her mother and her dead grandmothers, the preceding matriarchs, Karin walks down a dark path, gathering tools for survival. Her specialty tool being the spell of sex.

Aren’t we all haunted by the comments and actions launched by family members alive or dead? And along the way of life, haven’t we gathered our own special tools to survive? I think so, and wouldn’t it feel good to dig it out from under the rock and have a good laugh?

Welcome to my blog–LOL