I am so pleased to announce that my latest historical novel, My Hope Secured: Love and Loss on the Oregon Frontier, is now available. My goal this year was to have this book published before Thanksgiving, and I’ve done it. If you have friends and family members who like Western […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Writing
Writing Historical Fiction: My Odd Research Topics, Including Murder
Many authors these days have very strange browsing histories. Writers of thrillers have to research espionage, weapons, and clandestine operations. Fantasy writers delve deeply into the legends of wizards and dragons and vampires (not my cup of tea). As for me, in addition to the basic timelines and geography of […]
Continue readingLetting Go
I’m in the final steps of preparing my novel, My Hope Secured, for publication. I both love and hate this stage. It is exciting because I can see how close I am. It’s frustrating because I keep seeing things I want to change. I need to let go. Most of […]
Continue readingFirst Methodist Church in Oregon City—A Setting in My Novels
In my about-to-be-published novel, My Hope Secured, several scenes take place in or around the Methodist Church in Oregon City. This church was also a setting in one of my earlier novels, Now I’m Found. I imagine my characters in worship services, hearing marriage banns read (though the reading of banns […]
Continue readingAn Interview About My Writing and Books
One of the things writers have to do is market their books. This blog is one form of marketing, though I also post to preserve my memories for succeeding generations and to reflect on the world around me. But, from time to time, I have to focus on marketing. Recently, […]
Continue readingMy Hope Secured: Cover Reveal
It seems appropriate that on this Labor Day I am updating you on my most recent labor of love. I am pleased to show you a near-final version of the front cover of my soon to be published novel, My Hope Secured: Love and Loss on the Oregon Frontier. I […]
Continue readingWhere Did 1850s Oregon Farmers Get Their Water?
As I am finishing my current novel, it dawned on me that I have not focused on how the settlers in Oregon obtained their water. I’ve just assumed they had plenty, mostly from creeks or springs near their cabins. This is probably a reasonable assumption, but I decided I should […]
Continue readingMY HOPE SECURED: An Update on My Work in Progress
Because of our move, July was a lost cause on editing my current work in progress. But I am pleased to report that as August began, I got back into the swing of things. I’m into the polishing phase on the novel, which will be titled My Hope Secured. I’ve […]
Continue readingFifteen Nuggets from Cherry Adair at the Woodneath Romance GenreCom Master Writers Program
On August 1 and 2, I took a break from the hassles of moving to attend the Master Writing Class with Cherry Adair offered by the Woodneath Branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library as part of their Romance Genre Conference. Author Cherry Adair taught a two-day program that covered how […]
Continue readingUnwritten Words: Reflection on the Fifth Anniversary of My Mother’s Death
“Alas for those that never sing, But die with all their music in them!” ―from “The Voiceless,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes I ran across an approximation of this quote in my mother’s journal entry for July 28, 1999. Specifically, her journal reads, “‘Alas for those who never sing (or write), […]
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