I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that this year my husband and I celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary. We started dating in March 1977 and were married that November. We were apart for most of the summer of 1977, each working in different locations after our first year of law school. […]
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Author’s Blog Chain
I’ve been asked to participate in an Author’s Blog Chain this week, which gives me the opportunity to tell you more about my writing. Juliet Kincaid, a Kansas author and member of the local Sisters in Crime chapter, tagged me on her blog, Juliet Kincaid, Writer. Juliet has recently written a series […]
Continue readingFort Nez Perce to The Dalles: By Water or By Land?
In 1817, the North West Company established Fort Nez Perce where the Walla Walla River met the mighty Columbia. In 1821, that fur trading company merged with Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, which then operated the fort. Fort Nez Perce remained active until 1857, when the U.S. Army built a […]
Continue readingJesse Applegate and the Great Migration of 1843
In May 1843 – 170 years ago this month – Jesse Applegate and his brothers and their families left Missouri for Oregon. They were among the early pioneers to Oregon, four years earlier than the emigrants of 1847 in my novel about the Oregon Trail. In fact, 1843 was the […]
Continue readingA Novel Blog Hop: Lead Me Home
J.G. Burdette, who blogs at Map of Time: A Trip into the Past, tagged me to participate in a Blog Hop for authors. What’s a blog hop? This one is an interview with ten questions posed to a writer about the novel he or she is writing. The author answers […]
Continue readingAccidents on the Oregon Trail: Catherine Sager Pringle
This past week, while I’ve been caring for my daughter with a broken leg, I’ve thought about the injuries the pioneers to Oregon suffered on their journey. Accidents and disease were much greater risks to the emigrants than Indians, despite what we see in Western movies. One of every seventeen […]
Continue readingWhitman Mission
I mentioned in an earlier post that I wrestled with whether to set my Oregon Trail novel in 1847 or 1848. I decided on 1847, because I wanted my characters to stop at the Whitman Mission. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, early pioneers to the Oregon Territory, were killed by Cayuse […]
Continue readingTools for Writing Historical Fiction
Writing descriptions is not something that comes naturally to me. I much prefer writing dialogue. But when writing historical fiction, writing about place is critical. In my historical novels, I have to recreate a world that disappeared long before the lifetimes of my readers. How have I found information about […]
Continue readingTwo Ends of the Trail
I’ve lived at both ends of the Oregon Trail. I grew up in eastern Washington State, near the site of the Whitman Mission. The story of the Whitman Massacre was part of my childhood. I now live in Kansas City, Missouri, near Independence — one of the main jumping off […]
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