Author Archives: Inga Gardner

It’s been a busy few weeks.  With the start of the school year and the writing I’ve been doing, I’ve had very little time to read for my own pleasure.  But the arrival of fall weather (at least here in New Hampshire) had me looking for something to read while cuddled up under blankets, soContinue reading “Read This: The Jane Austen Project”

We have a neighborhood skunk.  I’ve never actually seen him, but I sure have smelled him.  Usually it’ll just be a whiff of that strange, slightly piney smell that drifts in through the front windows early in the morning or after dark.  Just enough to let me know that he’s waddled through the yard recently.Continue reading “The Tenacity of Tiny Things”

This summer has really been kicking my ass.  Theoretically, summer ought to mean more free time.  With no set schedule, we spend lots of time at the beach and at pools and the library and parks, all of which sounds very relaxing, right? Except that with two small children, trips to the beach and theContinue reading “What I’m doing right now instead of writing”

I don’t normally recommend a book before I’ve finished reading it, but I’m enjoying this one so much that it seems silly not to.  The story is strange and expansive, including a former Marine hunting for a gambler in Las Vegas, a teenage grifter in Los Angeles, and a 16th century alchemist in Venice.  ButContinue reading “Read this: The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay”

My husband and I watched Split last night.  It was… fine.  But what I couldn’t get past was how different James McAvoy’s physical build was from other movies I’ve seen him in and I can’t help but think it’s part of a worrying trend. If you’re not familiar with James McAvoy, he’s that strapping fellow on theContinue reading “Guys, I’m getting worried about the men.”

Last week, I started seeing a particular story being shared on social media by a number of my friends.  According to a Facebook post by a mother from Southern California, while at Ikea, she and her children were stalked by two well dressed men who appeared to have no interest in shopping.  She goes onContinue reading “The cost of fear”

There’s always been a plot point in my novel that bothered me.  It first shows up in the first ten pages of the novel, so it’s been there since I started writing (let’s not talk about how long ago that was).  It wasn’t an egregious problem–it just didn’t quite work.  But it was necessary toContinue reading “If at first it’s not perfect…”

When I planned my own wedding a decade ago, it was common knowledge that you couldn’t throw rice at weddings.  After all, the birds would come down and eat it and it would expand in their little stomachs and then the birds would explode.  So, we gave our guests little satchels of birdseed to throwContinue reading “Is it okay to throw rice at weddings?”

Writing a novel that revolves in large part around the planning of a wedding involves a lot of reading about weddings.  And the articles never cease to amaze.  If you follow me on Facebook (you should follow me on Facebook!), you may have seen this gem I shared a couple weeks ago.  And now, from TheContinue reading “Oh, the insanity!”

I knew pretty quickly that I had made a mistake, but I pressed on anyway, sewing two more seams and hoping that the finished product would be fine.  Instead, continuing on seemed to make the error worse.  And now I was faced with the depressing task of ripping out several hundred stitches, recutting a coupleContinue reading “Ripping Out the Seams”