Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “One Writer’s Journal”
Graham Springs in the first half of the 1800s was considered the “Saratoga of the west.” When I was writing my story, The Pursuite of Elena Bradford, set at Graham Springs, I kept wanting to say the Saratoga of the South. But at the time Kentucky was a western state in the USA. California didn’t become a state until 1850, …
I was up until the wee hours of morning trying to get rid of all the unnecessary words in my work in progress so I could send it off to my editor today. I hit the send button an hour ago. Well, I did sleep in between giving up on making the manuscript perfect and hitting that send button. It’s …
When I have a new release, I’m always surprised by readers who go the extra mile to let me know they’ve read my book. I appreciate when they write a review and post it online somewhere or many somewheres. This time I’ve had a few make graphics with pictures they’ve gleaned from the internet (I suppose) but that match what …
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there and to all of you who had a mama. I’ll wager that gets you all. Except maybe for Wes in my Hollyhill books. If you read those books, Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, you might remember how he always claimed to be from Jupiter and loved …
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” —Henry Ford I like Henry Ford’s quote. We are beat before we start if we think we can’t do something. But if we are the Little Engine that Could and keep saying “I think I can,” then we have a better chance of …
“All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.” (from a hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful” written by Cecil Frances Alexander, published in 1848) Today when I went out looking for the bird nest that my dog Frankie found a few days ago and that I dragged …
“Find joy in the simplest of pleasures and you’ll never feel deprived.” –– Unknown I had a booksigning last Saturday for my book, The Pursuit of Elena Bradford, that will officially release next Tuesday, May 6th. Always an exciting time when one’s book flies out into the world to find readers. Sometimes a little nerve-wracking too as you worry about what those …
T Writing a book set in the past can open up some doors to interesting research. A writer can suddenly find themselves needing more information about things she never even considered needing to know when that first idea for story came to mind. But then you start digging a little deeper into the story’s history. You think more about what …
I love Spring. I also love summer and fall and even winter. That narrows things down a little, doesn’t it? But I wouldn’t really want to live where there weren’t seasons. Where it was always warm. Where the sun shone all summer and only made cameo appearances in the winter. I love the Spring sunshine and when the flowers burst …
My sons came home today to celebrate a family day of Easter. Back some years ago, our sons and sometimes our daughter started a tradition of coming home to go to church on Easter Sunday and then out here to the farm for dimmer. We’ve worshiped together many years at our little country church. Back when my kids were little …