Fiction author Robin Brande talks about writing, reading, and other vital matters

Off to get the rest of my Colorado backpacking fix. See you back here Wednesday night.

Our friend (and web designer extraordinaire) BJ sent me this link in preparation for the days ahead when people might be a little upset with me for what I’ve written. (You’ll see. Give it a few more months until the advanced reader copies go out.)
What I like about this guy’s style is he [...]

On our way backpacking up to Yule Lakes yesterday to camp overnight, we ran into a wedding party. We didn’t know they were a wedding party until we noticed the wildflower wreath on the back of one of the women’s packs. We asked, they confessed. There were eight or nine people, and [...]

I’m heading into the wild today for an overnight backpack up to Yule Lakes with my husband and young dog to scatter the old dog’s ashes. We decided on Yule Lakes because that was where our mild-mannered yellow Lab Red scared off a black bear and sent it running away at an alarming speed [...]

This is what happens on the in-between days. We’re going backpacking tomorrow, but today we’re sitting in this hotel room, a two-laptop couple, very modern, black Lab at our feet snoozing off yesterday’s excitement.
And since I’m just sitting here waiting for friends and family to e-mail me, reading other people’s blogs, wondering if the [...]

That’s what we saw as we rounded the corner tonight. One large mass of black Labs playing in the yard, with their stout-chested yellow Lab father in the middle.
The puppy reunion party.
They’re all just a little over a year old now, and yes, Bear is by far the largest. He kept asking us [...]

I didn’t mean to pick the perfect audio book, but I did.
The whole way up to Colorado we’ve been listening to Marley and Me, by John Grogan. It’s been on the New York Times bestseller list forever, it seems, and I finally got around to it.
I see why the book deserves all the attention [...]

Okay, I just this split-second finished reading Diana Peterfruend’s novel Secret Society Girl (even though I should be packing), and here’s what I can report:
1. Yale (excuse me, Eli University) is NOT like a state school. Yes, there’s some envy in that. I’ve always wondered what those hoity-toity schools are like, and [...]

My husband, the Bear dog, and I are heading for Colorado tomorrow. I hear the temps are 70 in the day, 40 at night. What’s that like?
Colorado has THE best coffee ever brewed. It’s one of the reasons I go there twice a year. The best coffee in the world is [...]

Am I the only one who reacts this way to news of that terrorist plot to blow up planes? It’s this outrage that someone I don’t even know, with a beef against someone other than me, is getting to decide how inconvenient my life is going to be from now on. My friends [...]