Parental Craziness

Oh, the potential today! Do you want to know how crazy my parents were or how I've driven my own kids crazy?

Yikes!!! Well, let's see if I can do this without too much pain, angst, or autobiographical detail.

I was raised by two loving parents who did all the normal things: they loved me oodles and bunches and showed it by setting protective limits I didn't appreciate and holding me accountable when I screwed up. They tried to shield me from their divorce, made me cringe with post-divorce dating, remarriage, more divorce...Like I said, they were normal.

Basically it was such a normal childhood, I wished for my real parents to come claim me. When they didn't show, I looked around for a circus or local wolf pack to run off with. And I lost plenty of sleep waiting for my superpowers to kick in so I could join Professor Xavier's school.

Which probably explains why my imagination is so over-developed and my young adult stories (heck, even my novels) have a healthy dose of adventure, not too much meddling from parental units and involve unique, magical transportation to new places.

As for the craziest thing I've ever done as a parent:

I'm an author. I make stuff up all day long and I've even told my kids it's a respectable profession. Parenting doesn't get much crazier than that!

Real life's full of crazy parents and other people - make your escape with a good story!
Regan

Regan is the author of the young adult Hobbitville Saga: The Pixie Chicks, Hot Spots, The Shadow Stone, and Snow Covered Resolutions. All available now on Kindle, or at Echelon Press!

A Christmas Story: Christmas at the North Pole Compound

I enjoy looking at old family photos, a favorite showing me as a preschooler ripping into my small pile of gifts beneath the now-classic 1950s silver Christmas tree.

To a child, there's nothing more exciting than the arrival of Santa, the glow of the colored lights, and the sparkle of a lit tree. There's not much that can diminish the joy of the holiday--except if someone tried to stop Christmas.

As I enjoy writing, and reading, mysteries, I had to wonder, what would happen if – gasp – a crime wave hit the North Pole?

That's the premise of my new short story, "Christmas at the North Pole Compound," being released Dec. 5 (today) from Echelon Shorts.

In the story, Chief Elf Investigator Finius Flaherty is not only alarmed by the decrease of Christmas cheer (it's enough to threaten Rudolph's ability to pull the sleigh, he says!), but is even more disappointed that crime has come to the North Pole – and is most likely an inside job.

*** Read more and check out an excerpt at Echelon Shorts.

*** BUY: Christmas at the North Pole Compound"

* See the elves and 12 Days of Christmas in Miniature at Candid Canine