Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~Stephen King That’s obviously a magic a lot of readers are still looking for as they came out to the Kentucky Book Fair in large numbers yesterday to find some of those magical stories. And most of them did carry a book made of paper out the door with them. I did have a few are …
My Friend, Jan “Watson’s success lies in her ability to create characters that are endearing and timeless. . . .” Romantic Times Magazine. One of the best things about writing in the inspirational market has been the friends I’ve made of other inspirational writers. One of those friends is Jan Watson who also lives here in Kentucky and writes …
November 11, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s Veterans Day. We had to go to school anyway, but Dad did a special issue of the Banner with stories from some of the veterans. Mr. Haskins who served in World War I was more than ready to share his stories about serving in France. Of course, I’d heard …
“From the world wars of Europe to the jungles of the Far East, from the deserts of the Middle East to the African continent, and even here in our own hemisphere, our veterans have made the world a better place and America the great country we are today.” ~John Hoeven November 11 – Veterans Day I have …
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” ~James M. Barrie Sunshine “Sunshine, sunshine in my soul today.” Don’t you just love the sunshine songs in the church hymn books? Don’t you just love the sunshine, especially in the winter time? The change from Daylight Savings Time this week has me noticing how the …
November 4, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Things have been sort of crazy in Holly County this week, but then things are supposed to be sort of crazy on Halloween, aren’t they? I’m way too old for trick-or-treating. I never did that anyway. Dad didn’t think it was all that good to go around knocking on doors …
The Mystery Revealed The guesses were fun. All of you were ready to be out on the farm. And I finally fooled some of you. That made me smile. But a few of you were right. It wasn’t a cow. Or a pig. My daughter-in-law knew who it was on first glance, but she privately messaged me her guess so …
“Imagination has rules, but we can only guess what they are.” ~Mason Cooley I love games that take imagination. Guessing games can be fun too. So thank all of you who have played along with my mystery photos to enter my giveaway for Orchard of Hope. I’ll be drawing for the two winners on Saturday, November 2, so you can …
October 28, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill. As you can see in the photo here, not much going on Main Street on a Tuesday afternoon. There are days when I go out and stomp on the sidewalk just to see if I can wake up anybody in the town. But nobody ever rushes out of the …
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. That’s a famous first sentence from George Orwell’s novel 1984 published in 1949. The sentence lets you know at once that this story is no ordinary story. Every story has to have a first sentence. That first sentence needs to not only pull the reader into a …