The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer. – Will Rogers Most of you who read my posts here know I’m a farm girl. I grew up on a farm and have lived on a farm all my life. While my husband has retired from farming, we still enjoy farm living. A young farmer …
“One doesn’t have to know everything about one’s destination when one begins a journey.” (Quote from The Song of Sourwood Mountain) I shared about how I helped Mira come to life to share her story in The Song of Sourwood Mountain. Once she came to life for me, then in the very first sentence of the book I threw her into a decision …
When I begin down the road to a new story, usually that trip starts with deciding who is going to be walking that road with me. I have to come up with characters to bring my story to life. For my recent release, The Song of Sourwood Mountain, I started with a female character who was going to at some …
This is a common flower here on the farm, but one I’m finding out tonight that I didn’t know all that much about. I grew up calling it cornflower, maybe because it’s a weed common in corn fields. That’s a guess. It turns out that common chicory has many names. It is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue …
When writing a book, I, as do all writers, need to keep the focus on the main story and not slide off into side scenes. Sometimes I see these scenes when I’m editing and sometimes my editor points them out. The scenes and paragraphs of extra information aren’t bad, just not necessary to the story. I don’t want a reader …
Did you ever play with a June bug? That’s the bug in the photo. I don’t like those little brown hardshell bugs that are drawn to lighted doors or windows at night. They used to find a way to get through the window screen in my bedroom when I was a kid and buzz around the room. I just knew …
One of the things I’ve enjoyed when I head to the hills for a new story is being able to hear my characters talking. I grew up country. Not mountain. But many of the expressions I’ve come across when researching for my Appalachian stories rang with familiarity for me because I’d heard them pert-nigh (pretty near) all my life. I …
When I recently sent out a newsletter with an invitation for readers to tell me about their favorite pets. Most of those who entered my giveaway didn’t share storeis, but some of them did. I enjoyed every one whether I shared the story forward or not. A good dog or cat or horse or bird story is the best. I’ve …
When a crow says an intelligent thing, chickens may laugh at it. This is the laughing of the sand castles at the powerful waves! ~Mehmet Murat Ildan I love birds. I like watching them fly in and out to my birdfeeder. I like it when one of them comes close to my window to perch on the windowsill. I like …
When we see the term “puppy love,” we generally think of young love, but you know, I think plenty of youngsters have experiencec puppy love in a more literal way. I know I did when I got my first puppy. I wanted to sleep out in the shed with that little pup. My parents would never let the puppy sleep …