I am reading Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (You can read the entire book online at http://www.bartleby.com/23/ ) I...

During every turbulent time period in our nation's history there have been songs that brought our citizens together, uplifting them, giv...

A writer cannot make every reader happy. Occasionally, an author will write something that rubs a reader the wrong way. I was clipping the h...

I went to another flea market today—a small one at a local park. I bought two cookbooks there despite the fact that I already have a large a...

In a writer’s life, every experience can lead to an idea for a story. Every new vista can become the setting for another plot. Every person ...

I've been reading The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper. I downloaded it from Project Gutenberg last year after I had visited J.F. C...

It has been a year since my mother died. This week I finally decided to go through the large bin of my mother's photographs. I picked ou...

New Jersey was enduring a record heat wave when we packed up for our annual road trip to Florida to see hubby’s parents. We did not ...

Most people know I'm a bookaholic--so this year I amassed $85 in Barnes and Nobles giftcards, which is really amazing and I thank all th...

In the summertime, I get a little extra time to read. Very often, I enjoy reading something quite different from my usual fare and since I s...

Months ago, I started giving away free short stories at my website, http://www.penelopemarzec.com . One of the stories,"A Shade of Diff...

I almost lost this small cross at the gym. The chain broke while I was on the treadmill at the gym. I grabbed the chain but I could not find...

Congratulations to Kathy Otten. She won the set of notecards! So far, my best selling book online has been the digital version of The Beast...

I love to talk about books! I had a wonderful, attentive audience today at the Monmouth County Eastern Branch Library. They asked some great...

Please see the follow-up for this post at: http://www.ameliamarzec.com/rewired/ It’s been a tough year for the Marzecs with too many hospi...

I never know how my books are selling at my publishers' websites until I get a royalty statement from them. However, I can check my book...

Two of my sisters graduated from Rutgers. Daughter #2 graduated from Rutgers and Daughter #1 works for Rutgers. Since today's weather wa...

My father has rarely talked of his experiences as a sergeant in the Air Force during during World War II. He was stationed in New Guinea and...

Last week Daughter #3 was in a hospital two hours away from home. We had a gloomy Easter because she was feeling really terrible! We brought...

Yesterday, while New Jersey was being hammered by a nor'easter, I got up early and drove north on the Parkway to Woodbridge to attend th...