The world of million-dollar violins

In my second year of playing the violin, back in 2006, I decided my $200 starter violin, initially a rental, had served its purpose, and it was time to invest in a quality advanced beginner violin. My budget was $2000. The search took five months as I sampled over forty violins, in San Francisco, Santa … Read more

Giving birth [to a book] on Mother’s Day

It’s minutes before midnight and I’m about to give birth. Well, to a book. But, weirdly, there are correlations: this pain of pushing, pushing, and finally, in this agonizing rush of both relief and loss, it’s out there. OFF BALANCE, my first ballet novel, is out there, in stores. My baby, out in the world. But I didn’t … Read more

Classical Girl’s New Year’s resolution

Do I want this blog to be the story of the fiery, relentless energy of the ten years in which I produced five muse-inspired novels? The aching loss as the decade-long dream of being traditionally published got pounded down into nothingness? Nah. The New Year is a great opportunity to end a pity party over … Read more

Haunted by St. Saens’ Organ Symphony

Being haunted by music sounds like something I should be blogging about in late October, but with the sunlight growing autumnal, here in September, and nights growing longer, cooler, I think it will still work. And there’s no better way to describe the hold that Saint-Saens’ Symphony no. 3 has on me right now. Perhaps … Read more