Hey there!

I remember the shocking disappointment of my first Venezuelan sunset vividly.

I spent one summer after college living in Venezuela, doing carpentry for an org that worked with kids who had developmental disabilities. The little town I was in — Santa Elena de Uairén — was about 5 degrees north of the equator. As someone who'd lived her entire life around the 47th parallel, this was a total trip.

I associated summers with late evenings and long, luxurious sunsets that gave a colorful show over the course of an hour. I was used to light in the sky at 10pm, and morning birds singing around 4am.

There's something special about those long summer days. Something sacred, precious — especially after the brutal short days of winter.

I was in summer vibes mode that first night in Venezuela, but we all gathered shortly after 7pm for the sunset. Logically, I knew the sun would set earlier, but I hadn't realized how much earlier than the 9pm sunsets I'd become used to back in Seattle.

What I really hadn't prepared for was how quick it all happened.

One moment the sun was hanging in the sky, the next it had dropped like a rock behind the horizon. There were some pretty colors, sure, but none of the lingering, glorious, slowly shifting fuchsia and flame orange and butter yellow and indigo I associated with a summer sunset.

It was just sunny, then not.

This was, to put it mildly, a disappointment.

I grew to love Venezuelan sunsets during the six months I was in Santa Elena, but the shock of that first one has never left me. Nor has the gratitude I feel every time I go through another summer in the Pacific Northwest and get to watch the days luxuriously lengthen as we head towards the summer solstice.

This year, I'm celebrating the summer solstice in a new way: By writing from dusk 'til dawn!

I'm joining a group of writers for a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association, raising money for research. This is an annual fundraiser they do, the Longest Day Solstice Challenge, where people can create their own fundraisers to "shine away the darkness of Alzheimer's."

I joined a friend's team, Writing Against the Darkness. We'll be hopping on a Zoom call at first light on June 20th, and write-write-writing until the sun goes down that night.

I would love your support!

​If you'd like to sponsor me, head here.

Even $5 goes a long way to helping fund life-changing research into a disease that most of us have probably seen a loved one go through.

Are you a writer who wants to join Writing Against the Darkness on June 20? Follow that link and click "Join My Team."

It's a great way to set aside time for your writing, while making a difference.

I'll let you all know how it goes once we get closer — but you can bet I'll be finishing out the day dictating my final words while watching the sunset from the bluff near our house. ;)

For your TBR

Oh! And don't forget the Universe of Adventure Sci-Fi Bundle is still running.

This StoryBundle is curated by independent authors John Wilker & Dave Walsh, and Ghost Pirate Gambit is one of the featured books.

One of the things I love about the bundle is that John and Dave acknowledge that science fiction comes in so many flavors. This collection isn't just all aliens, or military, or action-adventure. (Or sci-fi crime, like my collections tend to be!) Instead, John and Dave have picked out a lovely smorgasbord for you.

Here's what they have to say:

Through the ages, science fiction has been many things to a great many people. It’s never been just one thing. Just one type of story. There's sci-fi that's quiet and contemplative, sci-fi that sticks to our understanding of modern science, then there's sci-fi that spans different galaxies and times, or even sci-fi that warps our understanding of reality.
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But when most people think of science fiction, it's hard not to think of adventure.
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It doesn't always have to be grand, galaxy-hopping adventures, either. Sometimes it’s smaller-scale stories, focusing instead on a few characters going up against inconceivable odds.
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For this bundle, we've collected books from all across the wide world of science fiction and found adventures big and small. The kind of books that help you remember why you fell in love with science fiction in the first place.
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If you haven't gotten books through StoryBundle before, it's a really cool platform with a unique model.

Here's how it works

• Support awesome authors by paying however much you think their work is worth!
• If you pay $5 or more, you get the core set of 4 books (including Ghost Pirate Gambit)
• If you pay $20 or more, you unlock another eight bonus books, for a total of twelve, including two StoryBundle Exclusives!
• All the books can be read on just about any tablet, ereader, laptop or even your smartphone.

​Check out the StoryBundle here.

P.S. I'm curious — where's the most gorgeous place you've ever watched the sun set? For me, it's an easy answer: the White Crack campsite on the White Rim trail near Moab, Utah. 😍