Cheryl A. Ossola            

Most writers know the oft-cited nugget attributed to E.M. Forster, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” I totally agree, and never more than ...

In locked-down Italy, one activity that’s permitted is dog walking, so every morning I venture out as usual to give Aria time to play with her friends, chase...

Happiness is making ribollita (a Tuscan soup) and finding out, when you go to open a big can of tomatoes, that you don't own a can opener (how is this possib...

I am the worse at self-promotion, so I'm late to my own PR party in posting these links. Recently I had the good fortune to be interviewed by two super-smart...

Nice to be back in the ‘hood after a week away in hospital. A cool breeze announces a shift in the weather—today will bring welcome rain. I sit on the steps ...

I’m recently back from a weeklong stay in the hospital here in Perugia, which turned out to be fascinating from a “sociological” standpoint (comparing medica...

Before the 1920s, the town of Manzanar—which means "apple orchard" in Spanish— was a place of abundance. Founded in 1910 in the high California desert east o...

When I was a kid, we'd visit my grandparents most summers. Their house, a white Victorian in the Italian section of Syracuse, New York, was a place of endles...

I’ve been living in Italy for just under a year, and it’s been a time of huge transitions, some expected, some not. I’ve found certain aspects of life here a...

The Other Stories is a fun trove of readings and interviews from the not-super-well-known author pool—and yeah, that includes me. Kudos to Ilana Masad for co...

In THE WILD IMPOSSIBILITY, Kira turns to her family's past as she tries to understand the bizarre dreams and visions she's having. The first place she looks ...

Secrets. We all have them, if not entire truths then fragments or details. Adults sometimes regard secrets as shameful or embarrassing, but as children or te...

A few images of Perugia, Lago Trasimeno, and Assisi

In this excerpt from THE WILD IMPOSSIBILITY, the protagonist, Kira, has the second of many "daytime dreams," as she calls them—vivid scenes that she refuses ...

Book blogger Randee Green, author of the Carrie Shatner mystery series, was kind enough to give me a presence on her site. Check out this interview for an ex...

Weddings are fantasies for some people, a little girl’s dream come true, every detail masterminded—the perfect dress, flowers chosen for color and symbolism,...

Do you remember your first love? Not a crush on a kid in elementary school or the fantasy of being with a celebrity, but real love for someone who made you f...

In The Wild Impossibility, a backyard pond, home to koi and watched over by a statue of the Virgin Mary, is a key location for the book’s protagonist, Kira. ...

When does a piece of clothing become a costume? In a sense, clothing is always a costume, because every garment we wear projects an image of who we are. But ...