Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “One Writer’s Journal”
“The setting in a book is as much a character to me as the people who populate the story.” ― Joie Lesin A story has to have a setting whether that place is real or imagined. It can be an actual place with a name and a history or one imagined with or without a name and with whatever history …
Back when I was writing my Hidden Springs mysteries, I hadn’t had a cat for years and years. When I was a kid, cats were always around. Barn cats. Farm cats. My mother even had a cat she let in the house. When I was a kid, I was surprised at that, but Mom loved Maggie. My favorite aunt was …
Often when I do a book talk and share about my Shaker books, people, usually women, say how they can’t imagine why anyone would be a Shaker. I have some of the same feelings as they do because I can’t imagine giving up my individual family to live in such a group where all are to act and live as …
In 2008, my first Shaker book, The Outsider, was published. I eventually wrote seven more Shaker books. The Refuge is the last Shaker book I’ve written. Since I’m having a giveaway here for that Shaker book, this seemed a perfect time to share once again some of the sayings attributed to the Shakers. I liked being able to includes some …
I love it when some of my books are on e-book sale for super low prices. Right now, all three of my Hidden Springs mysteries are only 99 cents at many online booksellers, Amazon, Kobo, B&N along with others.Or you can go to my website and check out the link on my book pages for my Hidden Springs Mysteries, Murder …
Fall is here. The trees will soon be turning color. That made me think about one of my books that has a definitely autumn scene cover. The Refuge is the last Shaker book I wrote. It’s been out a few years, but I posted about it today on my Facebook Shaker Wednesday. Since that had the book on my mind, …
Yesterday was the Cave Run Storytelling Festival here in Kentucky at Cave Run Lake. I suppose it’s not too hard to understand why I love storytelling. I’ve been called a storyteller, but I do my story telling on paper or the computer page. At the Storytelling Festival, these storytellers stand up on a stage with a microphone and tell stories …
Sometimes a writer gets something fun in the mail – a letter handwritten in an envelope with a stamp on it that lands in said writer’s mailbox. Years ago when I was writing books for younger readers, it wasn’t unusual to find one of those letters in my mailbox. I exchanged letters over several years with a young girl …
A few years ago, I planted some morning glory seeds beside a trellis in my yard. When I did I had to think my father would have wondered if I’d lost my mind after the way we’d always had to fight what he called morning glories in the crops and garden. In fact, I’ve probably yanked out no telling how …
Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years. ~Ausonius I just had a birthday. They have a way of coming around faster than they used to. When I was waiting to finally be a teenager, the year seemed to go on and on. I’m long past the teenager years. Going …