DONIS CASEY: Write Errant

Welcome to July, Dear Readers. Roald Dahl once said he’d like to do away with January in exchange for an extra July. Obviously Roald Dahl never lived in southern Arizona. As I type this, at 2:00 p.m. July 3, the thermometer on my back porch reads a mere 100º F, and we actually had some rain last night for the first time in months. However the forecast for this coming Saturday is 115º, so back into the furnace for us. As everyone knows, this is the price we pay for our gorgeous winters.

Anyway… I don’t go outside much when it’s like this, which is helpful for my writing schedule. I’m about 100 pages into my latest manuscript, another historical, but set in a place and time that is new for me, so I’m having to stop frequently to do research. But as anyone who’s ever tried to write a book knows, we plug on.

As an aside, it was nearly a half a century ago that my husband and I returned from a year in Europe on a Polish ocean liner. We left from Tilbury England on June 26 and sailed up the St. Lawrence seaway in Canada on July 1, Canada Day, and were welcomed home with loads of fireworks. We stayed in Montreal for a few days and crossed back into the United States on July 4. It was a great way to return to the Western hemisphere.

And last but certainly not least, my Tell Me Your Story Guest for July is actress/writer/documentary filmmaker Penny Peyser, (https:/sonnetsfromsuburbia.com/ ) best known for her parts in “Rich Man, Poor Man”, “All the President’s Men”, “The Tony Randall Show”, “The Frisco Kid” (loved it), “Crazy Like A Fox”, and “Knots Landing”. Artists of any stripe cannot help but create, and Penny is the poster child for continuous creativity. Besides film and stage acting, she’s written, produced and directed award-winning feature documentaries. Her first book, “Sonnets From Suburbia: More Candles Than Cake” was published in 2023, and her second, Sonnets From Suburbia: Romance Dance, came out last year. Check out Penny’s tale right here at this site beginning July 20.