KarenSandler's blog

Fifteen years ago, my husband and I moved from sprawling Los Angeles County to a small semi-rural Northern California community.  We’d both grown up in the city--him in Beverly Hills (really!) and me the L.A. suburb of Hawthorne.  We were used to lots of pavement and a pretty faceless society.  We knew our immediate neighbors and had family nearby, but we never had much of a sense of community where we lived.

I am at a certain time of my life (ahem), when changing diapers, school plays and Saturday soccer games have given way to hot flashes, foggy brain and sleepless nights.  Sleep has been a bit tricky for me since my teen years; in my 50s it’s an even more hit or miss proposition.  But at least the three-hour wake-fest the other night was a more useful insomnia than usual.  Yeah, I freaked about

All in all, I had a pretty good childhood.  Yes, my parents divorced when I was young and I went through some confusing times.  I ultimately spent a good chunk of my childhood being raised by my grandmother, but Mom and Dad were never far away.  I later lived with my mom and then my dad (Dad got the crazy teen years—poor guy) and always had a great relationship with them both.

I love talismans while I’m working on a book. That’s why I have a chunk of serpentine rock that I used as inspiration while writing my “love underground” suspense novel, NIGHT WHISPERS. And why I purchased a hand-loomed potholder while working on my uncompleted, unsold women’s fiction novel, BACK HOME.