Some of my novels have followed historical events quite closely, and others are almost entirely fiction. For example, Lead Me Home follows the route of an actual wagon train quite closely, Now I’m Found features a section on the California Constitutional Convention, and Safe Thus Far follows an actual Oregon […]
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Use of Laudanum in the Mid-19th Century
Authors continue to research aspects of their plots throughout the drafting and revising of their novels. For my current work-in-progress, I’ve had to revisit old research topics, and today’s post discusses a new line of research. (I hope no one ever researches my web search history. It is full of […]
Continue readingThe Forest and the Trees and Writing Affirmations
I am in the thick of writing my current work-in-progress, approaching the halfway mark. I am in the trees, and I cannot see the forest. I write each scene and feel good about it, but I have no feel for the whole. Each conversation between my characters seems real, but […]
Continue readingThe Charles Preuss Maps of the Oregon Trail
In Lead Me Home, and again in my about-to-be-published novel Forever Mine, I make frequent mention of what my characters call “the Frémont maps.” In fact, these maps were created by Charles Preuss, a German cartographer who accompanied John Frémont on his explorations of the West in 1842 and 1843. […]
Continue readingLessons from the 2017 OWFI Conference
I attended the 2017 Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. conference in Oklahoma City from May 4-6 this year. I’ve attended this conference in the past (though the last time was in 2014), and I always learn something. This year, I probably spent about two-thirds of my time in marketing sessions, with […]
Continue readingBack to Square One: My New Work in Progress and Scrivener
After I published Now I’m Found in late September 2016, I found myself at loose ends with my writing. I still had to draft regular posts for this blog and for another blog I author, but for the first time in ten years, I didn’t have a novel that I […]
Continue readingUpdate on My Work in Progress
I’m kicking myself, as writers often do. Actually, in every profession I’ve been in to date, there were times when I kicked myself. Typically, the problem has been that I’ve put put off doing something that I knew needed to be done. And that is where I am on my […]
Continue readingPlotting a Novel – Try this for NaNoWriMo
I wish I knew more about plotting a novel. It’s one of the reasons I kick myself for not beginning my writing career earlier in life. If I’d spent my twenties starving in a garret as a writer, I’d be through the worst of the learning curve now. I’d have […]
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