Jams and Country Roots

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

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

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

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

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

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 …

Freedom to Write

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

“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

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

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 …

Writing Workshops & the Winners are…

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

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 …