Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons. – Kahlil Gibran My giveaway contest to celebrate Small Town Girl is going great. Entries are coming in from all over and you wouldn’t believe how many of us are out there who “never win.” One of those people will be winning those wind chimes …
Caught Eavesdropping
June 10, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill. This sign is awful. I took a picture of it to try to convince Dad to start a campaign in the Banner for new street signs. What will people passing through think of a town that has a rusty sign for Main Street? Most of the folks here don’t …
Celebration Giveaway Fun
Prizes can be fun and so can contests to celebrate new books. I got my first copies of Small Town Girl last week and first thing I thought about was giving some of those books away – along with an added prize or two. I like to tie in the contest with the book. You remember that lilac colored Grandmother’s Bible I …
Small Town Girl is Here!
The UPS man came calling yesterday and when I opened my door, there on my the step was that much awaited package – my new book, Small Town Girl. All my words neatly printed and packaged in a great cover. There’s our small town girl, Kate in her red dress standing on her front porch thinking romantic thoughts. She is, don’t …
Wanted Posters at the Post Office
(Photo from Saturday Evening Post) June 3, 1964 Jocie Brooke reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill, Kentucky. Not much going on in Hollyhill this week except school’s out for the summer. That’s something, I guess. Gives me more time for helping Dad with the Banner and for trying to figure out what that Mr. Whitlow is up to at the Hollyhill …
Enjoy Some Stories around Sue Harrison’s Fire Circle
Back in the 1990s I read a series of books about prehistoric Alaska. The first story in the Ivory Carver Trilogy was Mother Earth Father Sky. I’m sure I partly picked it up because of that great title, but I was soon captivated by the story and the characters. Fast forward a decade and I get to know a …
Let’s Talk Titles – Titling Time Again
Only weeks away from the release of Small Town Girl, my second Rosey Corner book. It follows up the characters in Angel Sister five years later. And now it’s time to title the Rosey Corner book I’m writing now. My working title has been Home to Rosey Corner. I like it but I haven’t had any illusions about that title …
Remembering Those Still “On Patrol”
May 30, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from the offices of the Banner on Main Street, Hollyhill, Kentucky, on Memorial Day. Mama Mae always called it Decoration Day when she took flowers to her husband’s grave. I went with her sometimes. Now she’s there in the graveyard beside him. I rode my bike out to the cemetery earlier today to …
A Day to Remember Those Who Gave Their All
“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 …
Color the World
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 …







