Shaker Kitchen tools, etc “Do your work as if you had a thousand years to live, and as if you were to die tomorrow.” (Shaker Saying) The Shakers believed in work. In fact they believed their work, whether it was making chairs, weaving cloth, peeling potatoes, tanning hides, or any of dozens of other tasks, was an act of worship. …
The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and has time enough. … Rabindranath Tagore We’ve had a beautiful summer here in Kentucky – the first one in several years where we had enough rain to keep the fields green into August. I took a walk this week through our hayfield before my husband mowed it and counted butterflies. Well, not …
Lynwood Montell & Ann at a Gathering of Authors “There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.” (Katharine Butler Hathaway) It’s not been my easiest summer with Mom needing so much extra care and with that deadline I had to chase with the Shaker book I was writing that didn’t seem to want to end. I did …
Do you get any newsletters via e-mail on a regular basis? A lot of authors now send out newsletters or news bursts – including me. I do an occasional newsletter that might be a little more occasional now than in the past because I signed up for a newsletter service that makes it easier to send out a newsletter. Before …
Did you know August was “Admit You’re Happy” month? And that’s not all. It’s also “National Catfish Month,” “National Picnic Month,” and here’s one for those of us who try to put a little romance into our stories “Romance Awareness Month.” That’s just the things we’re celebrating all month. Then we have the weeks. Week 2 was National Smile Week …
” In a pickle” – To be in a pickle is to find oneself in a difficult position. It seems that in 1611, Shakespeare was the first to use the actual phrase “in a pickle” in The Tempest, although the references to “ill pickles” and “this pickle” can be traced back to the 1500s or even earlier. Some of the …
“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.” – George Bernard Shaw The photo is of two generations in my family – my mom and my granddaughter. …
Summer time is a good time of year to forget what day it is. All week I’ve had to think twice about whether it’s Monday or Thursday. And oops, it’s Thursday and I totally let Wednesday slip past me without coming over to talk. I can blame it on the deadline rush to edit and pare and trim that had …
Today was the day I had agreed to have my Shaker 5 novel finished. The Gifted was one of those stubborn books that got a little long winded and simply did not want to end. The characters must have been having too much fun and didn’t want me to quit on their story. At times in July and June, I …
“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” (Dale Carnegie) Happiness for me today is thinking about another book written. Another story told – difficult though it was to pry out of my head and onto my computer …