“It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.” (Norman Schwarzkopf) Do you know why we have a long Memorial Day weekend? Some people think of it as a day to decorate the graves of their loved ones who have died. And that does happen …
A few years ago when my writing wasn’t going so well, I was exploring new options. One of those was writing devotionals inspired by things out here on the farm. I thought if I could come up with one devotional per week, I could turn it into a Hiker’s Devotional. Then my fiction writing began to get rolling again and …
May 20, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill, Kentucky. A stranger checked into the Hollyhill hotel last week. So what’s so strange about that? The only person to check into that hotel in my lifetime is Bill Jackson who moved into one of the rooms ten years ago after his mother died. Bill’s neck is too long …
In about a month I’ll be celebrating a new book out for readers. Small Town Girl is scheduled for release on July 1, but usually I get to enjoy that new book smell when I open up a box the UPS man brings to my door a few days before July. It’s always exciting to actually hold that new book …
Brooms make me think of Shakers. That’s what I put on my Shaker Wednesday post on my Facebook page this week, but there’s only so much you can put on a Facebook post. And a person can write a lot about Shaker brooms. If you visit the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill here in Mercer County, Kentucky, you can see …
May 13, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting for the Banner. It’s been a cool day here in Hollyhill. Way too cool. Last Friday it was 80 degrees and so hot that when I got home from school, I broke out my pedal pushers and wore a sleeveless shirt to the Banner office. Wes wanted me to help him clean up …
What Sunshine is to Flowers, Smiles are to Humanity. ~Joseph Addison Today was Mother’s Day. A beautiful time to remember Moms everywhere. It was a sad day for some who were missing a mom gone on before them. I still have my mother, but she’s not the mother I’ve known all my life. Dementia has stolen her memories and joy …
I had fun with my last mystery picture that wasn’t much of a mystery for some of you. So how about this one? Got a guess before you read on? While you’re thinking about it, let’s talk about Spring. Here in Kentucky it was so cool in March that spring tarried and dragged its feet, but then April came along …
May 6, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Things have been really hopping around here since Cat showed up. I’m beginning to believe he is from Jupiter the way Wes says. Zella says she doesn’t care where he’s from as long as he stays away from her and for heaven’s sake, we’re a newspaper. We deal in words …
“Truth is, every writer has to be a good editor, and you have to edit yourself. It is a skill every writer has to acquires.” ~Lisa Scottoline Got the pages for my Christmas novel last week for one more read through. Someday I’m going to keep count of how many times I read through a story …