• I write books.

    I do! It's true. I have written for all sorts of different audiences. My first book was literary adult fiction and I've written many many books that have fallen into the category "juvenile fiction" and "YA fiction". I talk about my books and writing in general on my other site, which is at www.karenrivers.com. (I don't know how to make that a live link, so you may have to copy and paste.) (Sorry.) THIS site is about me, my hair, my kids, my appliances, and that time that I rode my bike down a cliff and then got stung by a bee. It may not all be appropriately awesome (or even slightly interesting) to kids, so if you are young, LOOK AWAY. That said, there is nothing harmful here, except the occasional swear, which I ask you to edit out with your eyes. Blink blink.
  • I take pictures.







    More Photos
  • Is it safe to eat raw bacon?

    No. You shouldn't eat any raw pork products. You could get trichinosis and no doubt a number of other food-borne illnesses. With the recent change in food safety standards, I'd frankly cook the crap out of any meat product I purchased before eating it. Even if it's already cooked. Seriously. Keep in mind that I am not a raw bacon expert, I just play one on the web.

  • I Flock
  • Categories

A Post about Vanity and also about being Friend Dumped, which really sucks, even when you are not 12.

So I was recently Friend Dumped.   (I know!   WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS?)  It was a subtle dumping and I did not see it coming.   I think I am working through the seven stages of grief about it, if the seven stages include obsessing about it, being mystified, and then worried and then — [...]

Twitter is My Paxil! Social Networking is a Blip! Spoof Sites are the New Blogs! One Of Those Statements is Ridiculous!

So a long time ago, my man came home all excited about a job he was planning to take that involved social networking. I was floored. “It’s a blip!” I shouted. “Social networking will never last! It’s a job with no future! We’ll starve to [...]

My Stomach is Making Horrible Noises. Plus, Waiting For The Phone to Ring Rules! Except It Does Not Rule.

Yesterday, Clayton took the kids to his mum’s such that I could spend Saturday polishing my toenails and watching Project Runway writing one of the five books that I’m currently writing.   I know I mention this all the time, but that’s because I also am baffled about why I’m writing five books at [...]

Dan Brown, Freemasons, Vampires, Alzheimers, Menopause, and some Stuff About Me.

This post is not really entirely about Dan Brown.   Sorry.   It was a trick!  To make you look!   I know nothing about Dan Brown and/or Freemasons, except that I do know that his book sold one million copies on its first day because this was retweeted one million times on my Twitter stream yesterday and [...]

Oh Hai Universe, Thank You For Pooping On My Head.

So in the last little while, I’ve been thinking about karma and luck and all other impossible-to-measure and are-they-really-real things that we — meaning “I” — use to provide rationale for why my life is either going swimmingly thank you very much or whether it’s repeatedly stabbing me with a sharp pin in the eyelid.
To [...]

So then there was the preschool picnic.

The night before the preschool picnic, it rained so hard that I couldn’t sleep.   Secretly, I was relieved.   Because rain meant NO PICNIC.   And I’m mean like that and also socially anxious and more than a little socially inept.   Any kind of social event like a school picnic gives me hives because it’s just another [...]

And Then Twitter Told Me That I Was A Big, Huge LOSER And That No One Really Likes Me.

So there I am, innocently following people on Twitter — literary agents, specifically, because I’m looking for a new one who is more suited for the kinds of books I’m writing right now than my former agent (and honestly I think that following people on Twitter gives you excellent insight into the person or at [...]

Dear Mole, thanks I guess.

Dear Mole That I Had Removed Last Friday,
Look, I’m sorry I had you cut out of my body in a disgusting way.    Believe me, it was grosser for me than it was for you.   I had to a) SEE it (er, you) and b) four stitches.   The place where you once were is still uncomfortable [...]

On Camping. Plus! Bonus! Pictures from Parksville. And Bears! Except Not Actually!

This is a quick post because I have a babysitter and I should be working, as in writing the actual book, but I need to write something that is not the book first because my writing muscle is rusty and sore and weak from taking a week off, if by a “week”, I mean “two [...]

A little post I like to call, “Where I live, your driveway is not your own.” Or “Holy hell, that hurts”. It’s really two posts in one! So it’s sort of your lucky day! If that can be considered lucky! And I doubt that it could!

You know what sucks? I will tell you: Pain. Pain sucks. It does! I know, who’d have thunk it? I’m just here to help spread the news.
Here’s my story: I woke up yesterday morning with that funny little chest pain that you [...]