D.M. Darroch's Blog

After an evening of intermittent rain showers, I expected my midday walk through the forest to be a muddy mess. But rather than muck, I was positively giddy to discover this two-foot tall beauty along my path.

Wild currants are lush and lacy, offer three seasons of interest, and beckon enticingly to hummingbirds and butterflies.

I’m happy to announce that Sara Cravens, nee Parrett, and I have completed another Nora book. Nora and the Lake Monster will be released in ebook, hard cover, and paperback on April 13.

Nora shares everything with her sharp-eyed boy:...

Meet my anemones.

One of my readers and a dear friend, John Ostrem, gifted me this beautiful painting inspired by his reading of Canopy. According to John: “I picked up my artist’s brushes and painted a tribute to Ostrya with boots on the ground after fleeing the Canopy …”

This morning, after Nora (my muse of No, No, Nora! fame) knocked all my books and my eyeglasses off the bedside table before biting me on every single exposed finger and marking her grand finale by pulling the mattress sheet off the bed, I fed her and my other two cats. It was still dark outside, about quarter to seven on the last day of November.

The moon was full and shining through a huge maple tree in a nearby yard—a tree that drops leaves all over my next door neighbor’s roof. Every autumn...

Nora comes to life on Monday!

Bright and early on the morning of April 1st, preorders of No, No, Nora! will be shipped to eager little (and big) hands. To celebrate Nora’s introduction to the reading aloud (and reading silently to self) public, I’ve opened a store on Zazzle where you can load up on Nora merch.

Nora is a sweet little cat, and she looks too cute on t-shirts, buttons, and even a diaper bag. If you’re a fan of her nemesis Gustave, don’t fret. He’ll be there too.

And Inventor fans,...

Radio silence, or in my case, Pandora silence, has been the order of the day at laptop Darroch for far too long. During my many months away from this blog, I’ve been stretching my creative muscles in numerous ways: re-landscaping my entire garden (who knew there were so many varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas?), knitting piles of sweaters and socks (I have a definite weakness for colorful, fluffy fiber), ripping and weaving rags into rugs for my cats to puke on, oh … and starting many new...

Stuart Smalley images are copyrighted, so I present to you: cat in mirror.

Remember Al Franken's Stuart Smalley character on SNL in the early 90's? "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." It was funny because it was true. Franken's self-help guru was suffering from the disorder most of us know only too well--Imposter Syndrome.

This disorder is in no medical journal, doctors don't treat for it, but it is one of the most debilitating ailments known to wo/man. There...

Charles Dickens famously walked gobs of miles every single day: some sources claim as many as twenty a day, others a measly (?!) twelve--rain or shine. He claimed his daily walks were key to his ability to write the detailed sagas he's known for--though how he found the time and energy after logging twenty miles, I'd like to know.

Did he really do this? Every single day? I don't know, but there is genius to this, and if it worked for Dickens, one of the most prolific authors of his generation...