I had the pleasure of spending a weekend in Arrow Rock, Missouri, earlier this month at a writing workshop sponsored by Friends of Arrow Rock. Arrow Rock is where my forthcoming novel, Lead Me Home, begins. Arrow Rock has preserved many of its original buildings from the mid-19th century, and […]
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Writing Historical Fiction: The Research Is Never Done
A month or two ago I was working on the cover for my novel about the Oregon Trail. I found a wonderful painting by Albert Bierstadt, called “The Oregon Trail.” It is in the public domain and the beautiful image evokes the era of my novel. It works well cropped […]
Continue readingA Twenty-First Century Visit to Fort Laramie
On our recent drive from Washington State to Missouri, my husband and I detoured to Fort Laramie. We both wanted to see it, but for different reasons. My husband loves military history and was interested in understanding the strategic role Fort Laramie played on the Western frontier. I wanted to […]
Continue readingA Visit to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Baker City, Oregon
Ever since I began researching the Oregon Trail route for my novel about travel along the trail, I have wanted to go to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon, run by the Bureau of Land Management. I finally had the opportunity to visit it in late April, […]
Continue readingSculpting My Novel and My Life
My writing goal for the summer was to finish an edit of my second Oregon Trail book. I got it done just after Labor Day. Of course, that was not the end of the project. I know it needs another substantial edit. And probably another edit after that. And I’m […]
Continue readingHonor in the Gold Fields in July 1848: Few Reports of Thievery
As I review my novel about the California Gold Rush with my writing critique partners, they tell me to put more violence and tension into the book. They’d like to see a bloody claim jumping or bushwhacking in every chapter. A good novel must include a lot of conflict and […]
Continue readingThe Tao of Writing, of Geography, and of Clutter
While browsing in my local library recently, I saw the book, The Tao of Writing, by Ralph L. Wahlstrom. I don’t know much about Taoist principles or philosophy, but I thumbed through the pages, and it looked interesting. Anything that might immerse me more deeply in the writing life I […]
Continue reading30 Gold Nuggets from a Writing Conference
I spent this past weekend (May 1-3) at the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc., conference in Oklahoma City. This was my fourth trip to this conference, and each time it has been worthwhile. What I learned at OWFI 2014 is probably different from what others experienced, because we all attended different […]
Continue readingFact and Fiction: A “First Hand” Description of San Francisco in April 1848
Henry Vizetelly, an English publisher who was in San Francisco at the time of the 1848 gold discovery, wrote a novel entitled Four Months Among the Gold-Finders in Alta California: Being the Diary of an Expedition from San Francisco to the Gold Districts. He used the pseudonym J. Tyrwhitt Brooks. […]
Continue readingA Northern Digression: The Seattle Museum of History and Industry
On my recent trip to Seattle, I went to the Museum of History and Industry (called MOHAI by locals). And I realized how little I knew about the history of my native state. I took the requisite Washington State history class in the ninth grade—it was a quarter or a […]
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