My celebration of The Blessed was a fun time of friends and book talking with a little chocolate thrown in to sweeten the hour. I was lucky enough to have my daughter and husband (in the photo with me) there to help me carry everything in. Books can be heavy. I do so appreciate all my hometown reading friends who …
Swimming Holes and Creeks and Other Summertime Fun
“Hot enough for you?” With the temperature pushing 100 degrees, some folks are ready to slug anybody asking that question. It’s been a hot July here in Kentucky. But the rain has been falling and the creeks are full. That’s how we used to cool off when I was a kid. We’d load up in the car and take off …
Jams and Country Roots
A bubbling pot of sweet goodness. That’s what you’re seeing here. I was making jam out of a combination of blackberries and boysenberries with some raspberries (frozen earlier for just this purpose) mixed in to make the whole pot sweeter. And that’s where the roots and connections come in. That’s what my grandmother did and my mother did before me. …
The Blessed on Tour
The Blessed is on tour this week, visiting reviewers’ blogs in lots of places. I’m here at home, watching from afar and hoping the reviewers will like Lacey’s story. It’s always interesting reading those first reviews, but that’s all it can be – interesting. A writer doesn’t want to invest too much energy in tracking reviews. Good or bad. Some writers don’t …
Racing toward their Future
Not many of us can remember being two. If we could, we’d surely be more open to wonder. We’d remember discovering the world bit by bit. My preacher likes to tell young people that he did this or that before they “discovered America.” In other words, before they were born. That’s sort of how I felt this weekend taking care of …
Taking Time to Enjoy
July – the heart of summer! In Kentucky the weather is hot and sometimes stormy. The crops are laid by. That means they’ve grown too big to plow. The gardens are coming on and some of the neighbors are bragging about their first ripe tomato. They used to brag over the back fences. Now they post pictures and brag on …
Freedom to Write
“Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority–literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.” Ignazio Silone (Italian Novelist & Journalist, 1900-1978) Liberty is what we celebrate here in America on the Fourth of July. It’s what we’ve had from the time …
Stories from KY Christian Writers Conference
I had a good time at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown last weekend. I don’t think it’s a big conference. I might not be a good judge of that since I’ve only been to it and ACFW last year. For sure, it’s not as big as ACFW. It is a helpful and inspiring conference. This is a photo of the teaching staff and this …
Interview with Author, K Dawn Byrd
Author – K. Dawn Byrd I’m happy to welcome K. Dawn Byrd as a guest on One Writer’s Journal today. K. Dawn is a lover of books and an avid blogger who interviews authors and nearly always has some kind of book giveaway going on her blog. When not reading or writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband. They …
Writing Workshops & the Winners are…
I’ve been working all week on getting ready for the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown coming up this Friday and Saturday, June 24 & 25. I had actually thought this was my first writers conference when I went last year, but then I was reminded that I had led some workshops at the Green Rivers Writers Retreat some years …










