Did you watch Roy Rogers on television back in the day when the good guys always won and Roy Rogers was, without a doubt, one of the good guys? Just as famous was his horse, Trigger. If you mentioned Trigger back then, everyone knew exactly who you were talking about. Trigger the horse. He was the smartest horse ever, always …
I sent out a newsletter last week with some smiles. a giveaway, and an invitation for readers to send me a story about their favorite furry buddy. A few readers took me up on it, and as always I’ve heard some neat stories. You know how I love to share stories. So… But first be sure to look closely at …
Since I’ve been sharing some questions and answers from some interviews and writer talks, I invited you all to ask a question if you wanted to. Lee took me up on that invitation and asked, “Do your thoughts get ahead of your fingers when you’re typing out your stories?” She went on to say sometimes her thoughts get ahead of her …
“Any man who knows all the answers most likely misunderstood the questions.” That’s a quote that has a lot of truth. Nobody has all the answers, but writers can get asked some interesting stuff. A few years ago I was asked to go to a high school and talk about writing. I had talked to a number of elementary school …
Some years ago, I did an online interview with a site called The Book Club Network. I came across that tonight while looking for something to share here on my blog. When you’ve written 1,878 posts as I have, sometimes you’re sure you’ve already said everything worth saying. Twice! I’ve said these answers before too, but I thought you might …
Did you ever go to the creek to cool off in the summertime? We’ve been having some hot summertime days around here and plenty of other places are having even hotter days. On those hot days when I was kid, we’d load up in the car and take off for the creek down the road. Then there was our cousins’ …
“Have patience with all things but first of all with yourself.” —Francis de Sales All things includes all things. Even dogs. And especially Frankie. Many of you have probably smiled at the story you might sometimes hear Christians share about how a woman asked a preacher to pray with her to help her have more patience. As the story goes, the …
Blackberry: nature’s candy at its finest. It’s blackberry season here on the farm. Just got back from picking some of those blackberries here on the farm. We got out buckets mostly full before the light dimmed too much to see which blackberries were actually ripe. It’s a family tradition to go blackberry picking with my son and grandkids. We started …
One of the things that’s good when I go to the Kentucky Appalachian Mountains for a story or when I stay in a rural area is that I can let my characters talk country. That’s pretty easy for me since I talk country. Many of the things you might have heard in the hills of Eastern Kentucky back some years …
In the country when I was a kid, if a cat or dog showed up on your farm, you automatically assumed somebody had dropped it. That meant we suspected they had taken an unwanted pet for a ride and shoved them out beside the road a good distance away from their house. I’ve made pets of at least three dogs …