Kristen Houghton Despite the success of the Me-Too movement and the feeling that now we can put the blame squarely on the perpetrator where it belongs, placing blame on the victim is still the standard for too many people. I was the treasurer and board member of an organization called…

The Allure of the Cold Case Mystery There is nothing more intriguing to many readers than a cold case mystery. The details, the missed evidence, the old clues that fresh eyes might decipher; it’s all there for the reader. Putting all the old crime scene data together is similar to…

When the book Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll was released in 2015, I was eager to read it. Once I got it I couldn’t put it down. Literally. Couldn’t. Put. It. Down. I loved the main character of TifAni “Ani” FaNelli, loved how she painstakingly created a new life…

The last seven years of news watching has left me drained, stressed, and with a feeling of dread and unhappiness. There is so much hatred and viciousness affecting the world. Forget the so-called ‘feel good’ stories the networks throw into the mix every now and then, almost all of the…

All authors and writers will tell you that there was a time in their lives when they wrote articles and stories for free. Whether it was in a school literary magazine or the school newspaper in high school and college, we happily wrote for free and for the glory and…

Most of us have what I call the ‘garden-variety’ of stress. Deadlines, childcare, spouses, parents, co-workers — daily issues that are not…

Forgiveness was the topic at a seminar where I was a keynote speaker. We weren’t discussing minor hurts that, though annoying and frustrating, ultimately can be forgiven. The discussion was centered on how, or even if, we should forgive those who have caused us tremendous pain. There is always a…

While some people rely on roadmaps or a GPS system I rely on landmarks to get me where I’m going. It’s always been like that for me. When I was dating my husband-to-be he gave explicit directions on how to get to his house. “You’ll be on south 80 then…

“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.” Maureen Dowd, Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary I know a couple who were downsizing after their children were grown. They bought a…