You may contact me at sbodus AT yahoo dot com. Spam will be roundfiled.
The name of this blog is an oblique reference to Little Red Riding Hood as well as a nod to my WIP Out of the Woods.  Yes, I do know that the name  is actually from a chirpy little song about going to Grandma’s house, but it always makes me think of Red’s surprise encounter with a wolf at her grandmother’s cabin in the woods.   I’m fascinated by the tale because of analyses I’ve read which point to the underlying incest issue.

Here are two excerpts from my memoir (originally titled Black Sheep Sings), now Out of the Woods::
Black Sheep Sings excerpt
Mama Sings the Blues

I finished my memoir in 2010 and put it on the back burner because I had a stroke the day I finished it. For six and a half years I was afraid to go back and revise because I thought it’d kill me. I’m back at it now.

On the backburner is a novel called The Redemption of Maggie Dean.  I’m also obsessed with the children’s story I’m writing called The Adventures of Oliver Cotton Midgefield and Fidget Copperbum, which is about two brownies (fae folk) in search of a new home.

I teach composition and I’m the Liberal Studies Coordinator at SDSU-IV. I’ve written explications for two of Shakespeare’s Sonnets for Facts on File, and I just finished a 30-page bio on a living author for Scribners. In 2016 I taught memoir at Calipatria State Prison. I served on the Imperial County Civil Grand Jury 2015/16. I’ve been president of Kiwanis Early Risers in El Centro for almost two years; my term was up in October 2017.  I was also chair of our region’s One Day committee, and our focus was on literacy. Since April 2015, Kiwanis Early Risers has given about 6,000 books to the community, and we planted our first Little Free Library at State Street Coffee House in El Centro. I prepared my grandma’s papers for her to join Daughters of the American Revolution a few years ago, and now I plan to join as well so I can connect with other genealogy spooks. (Dunno if they’d like to be called that….) heh

I’m learning how to sew and quilt. I have a quilt sandwiched and have to learn how to bind and quilt it now. I’m delighted by all things crafty. Right now I’m working on little bunny rabbit dolls. Sewing is better than doing the dishes or mowing the lawn because sewing stays done. One hopes.

I’m migrating my other blogs to this one, so expect some changes here and there. My main focus will be on all things writing, but I’m including my other passions as well. The tabs on top are to different pages; the sidebar has my archived posts.

About my Twitter accounts: I have two. I have used @abbynormal92243 exclusively for years, and now I am working on my brand. Am now using @1girlriot for all things writing. You’re welcome to follow both.

I have a series of posts about my missing son. They are all under the category The Blog of Missing. If you’re looking for my posts on writing, check under the category A Day in the Life of a Writer, or by searching under writing-related tags, such as GMC, fiction, character development, etc.

If you’re interested in writing, I invite you to explore the tab up top.  (Same goes for genealogy and quilting and firearms.)
Posts I’ve written can be found under the Archives button in the sidebar.

I have a post elsewhere about the video below, but I’m including the vid here because it’s the most important message I have to share.

Angela Maiers talks here about why she teaches children they matter.