Every week I do a Shaker Wednesday on my Facebook author page where I share a tidbit of Shaker history and one of the pictures I’ve taken at the Shaker villages here in Kentucky. This one was taken at South Union and shows a table set and ready the way it might have been back when the village was full …
Christmas is a little more than a month away. Thanksgiving is this week. I’ve always wanted to remember my blessings and give thanks for them before I think about decorating for Christmas. But then, when some of those I number among my blessings showed up the weekend before Thanksgiving and were in the Christmas mood enough to help me do …
“Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.” – Sam Levenson Happy anniversary to me and to my husband. This picture happened many, many years ago when my husband and I said vows promising to love and honor each other forever. Then …
What word is almost universally understood no matter where in the world you might be? That word is OK, and yet in the history of words, it is relatively new and a word I sometimes avoid in my historical stories. It isn’t OK to let my characters speak words nobody would have said in whatever time period is the setting …
The cover of a book is the beginning of a conversation between the author and the reader. ~ David Pearson A few years ago, I visited a high school to talk about writing and my books. One of the questions they asked was about book covers. What better time to revisit that question than when I’m excited to share …
This Veteran’s Day, we’re bringing together authors whose books shed light on the struggles Veterans face after war. These powerful stories honor service, sacrifice, and the journey of healing. Bonus Winner: Receives Waves of Freedom series by Sarah Sundin 1st Place Winner: Chooses 6 books from the giveaway titles. 2nd Place Winner: Chooses 4 books from the remaining titles 3rd Place Winner: Receives the remaining 2 …
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” — Louis L’Amour And Louis L’Armour knew how to turn that faucet on. This is a record of his work. L’Amour eventually wrote 100 novels, over 250 short stories, and (as of 2010) sold more than 320 million copies of his work. By the 1970s …
We come in many different shapes and sizes, and we need to support each other and our differences. Our beauty is in our differences. ~Carre Otis The Kentucky Book Festival was great yesterday. I had a nice position for my book table in the “circle” as the helper told me when I arrived yesterday morning. My table companion was a …
This Saturday, November 1st, is the 44th annual Kentucky Book Festival at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky. To save you having to do the math, the first one was in 1981. The Kentucky Book Fair, as it was called before becoming the Kentucky Book Festival, was the brainchild of Carl West, a nationally recognized journalist who spent time in Washington …
A few years ago shortly after I published my first Shaker book, The Outsider, I talked to a book club in Washington state. They were having just their second meeting as a book club and they had picked my book. They must have contacted me to have a call-in at their meeting. I’ve always thought being in a book club …