After a year of blogging, our group has settled down into a comfortable, dynamic flow with its own quirky rhythm. But we’re also moving forward, looking for ways to improve and expand what we’re doing. So the time seems right to share a little more personal information about what books we read, what activities we enjoy doing, and what writing projects we’re working on. We’ll be adding a summarized version of the following to the “Our Books” page on our website.
There are now five of us in our core group. Our similarities have helped us bond together, while our differences have promoted a nice diversity in the books we review and the topics we blog about. We are all writers, readers, and boomers. But we live in different areas, write and read different types of books, and enjoy different activities and interests. By sharing this information about ourselves, we hope it makes it easier for you to connect with us, both as a group and as individuals, and encourages you to join us in our journey as we continue toward our goal of an even better future.
About Dee Ernst
Author of Better Off Without Him
Location: U.S. — Mid-Atlantic Region
Dee reads pretty much everything except genre romance, which is odd considering that the main character in her book is a genre romance writer. She particularly enjoys well-written popular fiction, fantasies, and mysteries. Although she has started reading more nonfiction, Dee doesn’t read much self-help. It’s not because there’s no room for improvement, but rather that she finds too much self-examination depressing.
The geographic area she lives in is a great place for one of her favorite activities—gardening. Her yard is stone-wall-to-stone-wall perennials. Dee also has a small rose garden her husband put together for her 4oth birthday. She loves to cook, too, especially for large groups of friends and family. Any excuse for a party!
Dee is working on two different writing projects with protagonists that are decades apart in age. One is a “second act” romantic comedy about a widow in her 50’s who’s starting a new phase in her life. The other is a young adult novel with a supernatural twist about two sisters in high school.
About Sandra Nachlinger
Co-author (with Sandra Allen) of I.O.U. Sex
Location: U.S. — Pacific Northwest
Sandy generally reads women’s fiction such as Jodi Picoult, Anne Tyler, Maeve Binchy, and Anita Shreve. She also enjoys popular fiction authors like Ken Follett, Larry McMurtry, and Barbara Kingsolver. Besides well-known authors like these, Sandy loves to discover new Indie authors. She rarely reads nonfiction.
Like Dee, Sandy enjoys gardening but admits that her real addiction is quilting. Although she has embraced her new home in the Pacific Northwest, Sandy maintains her connection to her Southwestern roots through her accent and her lifelong friendship with her co-author, Sandra Allen. One of her favorite ways to spend time is grandmothering.
She is currently untangling, enhancing, and just generally tweaking one of her NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) romances with the goal of completing the work by this summer.
About Lynn Schneider
Author of Second Stories and Whatever Happened to Lily?
Location: U.S. — Great Lakes Region
Lynn reads women’s fiction and mainstream fiction. She never reads sci-fi or fantasy. No vampires, ever. She’s interested in getting into biography, especially Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. Occasionally, you can catch her reading romances, but of course that’s only for educational purposes.
She would like to claim she gardens, but she’s really bad at it. Although Lynn may have written gardening off, one of her future goals is becoming a better cook. She also loves knitting. Other important interests in her life include photography and issues that affect people of our generation.
Lynn is putting the finishing touches on her third women’s fiction novel, Perigee Moon, which follows the life of a man who gets caught up in the corporate world, only to find he really desires a different kind of life. She hopes to have it ready for publishing by late Spring.
About Lee Sinclair
Author of Book of Blognots, Not Blogs
Location: U.S. — Pacific Northwest
Lee has gradually switched to reading mostly nonfiction, especially ones related to personal growth. When she reads fiction, she likes humorous books or ones with an intriguing story idea. She also enjoys historical fiction and prefers those set in the 1800’s.
Besides reading about history, Lee likes historical museums and old buildings. She loves taking pictures, though she’s not particularly knowledgeable about it. Listening to music has always been an important part of her life, and she enjoys a variety—from rock ‘n’ roll to classical, from folk songs to instrumentals.
She’s making frustratingly slow progress on the sequel to her first book, which will take her eccentric, reborn spinster character into the complicated world of relationships. Lee is also sporadically working on a humorous Regency romance and several related short stories.
About Sharon Tillotson
Author of The Storyteller
Location: Canada — Pacific Coast
Sharon reads broadly, including romantic comedy, light fantasy, as well as classics and nonfiction. She savors books and their words, and when she has time, tends to dig into “literary” books. Since receiving a Kindle as a gift last year, she has been enjoying mostly Indie books.
Golf is one of Sharon’s passions, and she does it whenever she can. Roaming near and far is another—walking, hiking, road trips, by air—in parks and gardens, at outdoor markets, on beaches, wherever her inclination might take her, whether in her hometown or in other countries. She also loves playing board and parlor games with friends.
Sharon has two completely different projects she plans on working on this year. The first is a novel with a protagonist from her book, The Storyteller, and the second is a series of illustrated children’s books.
Lee Sinclair
Dee Ernst
Sharon Tillotson
Lynn Schneider
Sandra Nachlinger
