How do you connect with friends these days? Do you call them up on the phone, text message them on your cell phone, write an old-fashioned snail mail letter or a modern e-mail? Do you go out on the web searching for old friends on Facebook? Maybe you tweet for friends? Ten years ago if you’d said you tweet for …
A Life Well Lived
I just got back from visitation time at the funeral home for a dear church friend. He was 96 years old and one of those men who was always ready to share a funny story about something he’d done in the past. He was a good storyteller. He used to tell me I was his favorite piano player. He obviously …
Celebrating The Believer
I celebrated my new book, The Believer, with friends at my local library Saturday. A new book is a good reason for a writer to celebrate because for most of us it doesn’t happen all that often. Some writers put out two or three books a year, but many of us writers feel fortunate to see one new book hit …
Modern Blog Tours and Old Shaker Buildings
It’s been an interesting week so far for me with my new book, The Believer, making a blog tour. That’s where lots of bloggers agree to read and then post reviews of a new book. Most of the reviewers have been kind. While one or two haven’t embraced the Shaker background, others have been fascinated and have enjoyed learning about …
Sunday Down on the Farm with Friends
It’s been a busy Sunday. My editor and agent came to visit me and we must be kindred spirits because we talked non-stop all day long. I’ve been looking forward to their visit for several weeks. I even cleaned up my desk! Now that was really something. I should do it more often because I really don’t like working at …
The News of the Day – Publishing, Editing and Reviews
Hi, guys. Wednesday rolls around quickly for somebody like me who’s always a couple days behind on chores – both writing and household. Never enough days in the week to do all I want to do. Of course that might be because number one I’m not as organized as I should be and number two because I want to be …
A Weekend on the Singing Trail
Just got home from a weekend with Darrell and the guys as they went to California – California, Kentucky that is. I had no idea there was a California, Kentucky until Darrell started singing with the Patriot Quartet. That’s where the lead singer grew up. It’s up in Northern Kentucky close to Alexandria. Actually we were at Beech Grove and …
Connecting with My Reading Friends
I know. It’s not Wednesday or Sunday (that’s my usual posting days), but I’m testing out some new links with Amazon.com’s author pages. There are so many ways to connect with readers these days. Facebook. Twitter. Author pages. Blogs. Blog tours. I’ve tried to stick my finger into the internet pie on all of them but twitter. Still not twittering. …
Celebrating Release Day
My new book, The Believer, was officially released by the publishers for sale yesterday. Actually it was already out in stores, or so I’ve been told. I haven’t personally seen it on any store shelves yet, but then the only shelves I’ve been seeing are the ones where I’ve been setting my newly canned jars of green beans. Trust me. …
A Few Days with the Grandkids
School starts here in Anderson County next Tuesday. The parents I’ve heard talking are groaning about the early start and the teachers are groaning louder. August is sometimes the very best month for summer activities and now schoolwork is going to be on the agenda instead of swimming pools and picnics and vacations at the lake. My grandkids here in …