Local Newspapers, Then and Now

I’ve read several articles and editorials in recent months about the demise of local newspapers. An editorial in The New York Times last November reported that 204 counties in the United States had no local newspaper, and 1,562 counties had only one. The Medill Local News Initiative found that in […]

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Oregon Spectator, May 22, 1851

Sometimes when I’m stuck on my historical novels about Oregon Territory, I go out to the Oregon Spectator newspaper for the month that I’m writing about and look for inspiration on what was actually on the minds of citizens of the day. I didn’t know what to write in today’s […]

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The Times, They’re Not A-Changin’

For those of you who want an update on my writing about the Oregon Trail, I just started delving into the first draft of my second novel in that series. Writers recognize this as a very dangerous point—will I hate every page or will I think it is all wonderful? […]

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