Author: Dan Alatorre AUTHOR

Just last week, as she came down the stairs from her home office, Michele observed her husband and daughter at breakfast. As always, Dan had taken the chair directly across from their daughter, so Savvy could watch TV. It was a bad habit, but it had started back when they were grasping at straws to […]

I think I know why my kid likes McDonald’s so much. The one near our house has a playground and all that. It’s nice enough, I guess. And they have Happy Meals, but she can eat chicken nuggets at home; the ones we buy actually taste better. She doesn’t care much for French fries… We […]

 On Thursdays, I drop my daughter Savvy off at her grandmother’s house. That’s been the routine ever since Savvy started swim classes. It makes for an easier day for me, and Grandma Judy gets to play with her granddaughter all day once a week. If you love your grandma the way Savvy loves Grandma Judy, […]

Savvy goes over to Noveli’s house to play. They see each other through the window. They jump up and down and shriek. Their ensuing “conversation” goes like this:“Dad, are we almost to Noveli’s hou- Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Noveli!” “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Savvy!!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! NOVELI!!!!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SAVVY!!!!!” … “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” “Ooooooooooooooooooh, you two stop screaming!”

So the latest thing for marketing eBooks is having somebody make a trailer of your book. When I first heard that, I thought, “Trailer? Like RV?” Are we going camping??? Well, they mean trailer as in movie trailer. Like Coming Attractions. Previews. You’d think they’d call it a Book Preview, or a Book Video or […]

I had prepared for the death of my mother for years, and yet when it came, when I returned to the church I grew up in and saw her gold colored coffin, when I heard her favorite song, the Ave Maria, being sung… I cried like a baby. I sobbed uncontrollably and unashamedly. I wept […]

 The next clerk pointed to the end cap by a wall display. “We have some dance leggings and tights right over there,” she says, pointing to a big pink poster of a girl doing ballet. Bingo.  Ignoring the rubber boots that have now made their way into our cart, I push Savvy over to the […]

“What is cancer, Daddy?” What? Where did THAT come from? “What did you say, honey?” I ask. “What is cancer?” She’s three. Three and a half, really, but much too young to be asking about that… “Well,” I begin… “There are these tiny little things like building blocks called ‘cells’ in your body, that make […]