The world is a crazy place in this era of the pandemic. “Social distancing” remains the phrase of the day, in many places accompanied by “shelter in place” or a variation thereof. Since Saturday, March 14, I have taken a few walks in our neighborhood, but otherwise I have barely […]
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What Do I Have After Eight Years of Blogging?
I recently discovered that WordPress could show me how many words total I have written on this blog. From January 2012 when I began blogging through 2019, I posted 502,077 words. That’s five good-sized novels. Before I published my first novel, I was told at writing conferences to build an […]
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The 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 […]
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On Choices, Priorities, and Consequences
As my children were growing up, I told them frequently, “You have to make choices in life.” When my daughter wanted to play two sports, I told her she had to choose one sport per season, because I didn’t have time to cart her to more than one set of […]
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My Basement Office in Winter
I have discovered one drawback to having my office in the basement of our new home. Make that, “on the lower level,” in the vernacular of modern real estate. Heaven forbid that a house be saddled with such a dreary component as a basement. Particularly when it is a walkout […]
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My Performance Review for 2019 and Writing Goals for 2020
Happy New Year! A year ago, on January 2, 2019, I posted my performance review for 2018 and listed goals for 2019. So how did I do this past year? My 2019 goals were To publish my fourth historical novel. My Hope Secured was published in late October, so I […]
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MERRY CHRISTMAS! . . . Excerpts From My Latest Novel
My latest novel, My Hope Secured, featured scenes of two family Christmases. One Christmas celebration depicted Hannah Bramwell at her brother’s home in Oregon City. The other showed Zeke Pershing at his father’s farmhouse outside of town. Neither character enjoyed their holiday festivities. Here is a description of Hannah’s Christmas: […]
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Tips from Yet Another Writing Conference
I wrote last year about attending the writing conference at Johnson County Library. I was there again last month for the 2019 Writing Conference. In somewhat arbitrary categories, here are my favorite tips from the conference this year: ON WRITING: 1: Writing is work. If you show up and spend […]
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LEAD ME HOME: Missouri Author Project 2019 Adult Fiction Winner
I received an early holiday present this year. In mid-November, I learned that my novel Lead Me Home was selected as the 2019 winner in the Missouri Author Project adult fiction contest. Earlier this year, I came across Jane Friedman’s suggestion that indie authors consider listing their books in SELF-e, […]
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Learning to Dictate, Then and Now
I have a love-hate relationship with dictating. I think best with a pen in my hand, and second-best with my fingers on a keyboard. Far behind comes turning my thoughts into spoken words. As a law student and young attorney, I had to write many memos and legal briefs. Most […]
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