“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 (New Kings James Version) I guess when you decide to write a post about the first lines of books, you can’t go completely wrong with the first line of the Bible. That line opens the door to everything that follows. God in the beginning and then wow. No …
New Book – Freak of the Week
Books come in all sizes for all types of readers. I’ve jumped around in some of those types. I’ve written for the general market and the Christian market. I’ve written for young adults and for middle readers. I’ve even written a picture book that hasn’t made it out to readers yet. I’ve written historical romance, mysteries, Shaker stories and family …
Winning Books Can Be Fun
My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water. ~Mark Twain I love books. I’ve had a love affair with books ever since I learned to read and even more so, after I learned to write. Well, I’m not sure I ever actually learned to write. I just started putting one word after …
Book Giveaway Happening Here
Summer vacation is coming to an end for the grandkids and so I followed through on my promise to take them to the movies before school started yesterday. We barely squeaked it in, but we went to see “Finding Dory” yesterday. Even the older grandkids wanted to see that movie and they all seemed to enjoy it. My husband wasn’t …
A Strangely Ordinary Sleuth Wannabe
June 6, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. School got out last week. Yay!! But then Aunt Love just found lots for me to do. She has this thing about spring cleaning. So I’m having to give my room the annual clean to make Aunt Love happy. Leigh could care less. She cleans, but I think more to …
A New Year’s Blank Pages
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. (Edith Pierce) I like thinking about a new year as an open book for us to write our own words on the blank pages of each day. Of course, …
Books Under the Christmas Tree
Under my Christmas tree you will generally find at least one book wrapped up for each child and grandchild. Not my books. They can have one of those any time they want, but while a few of them do read my books, others in the family have different reading tastes or might not be old enough for a book without …
Spring Break – Time to Read!
March 30, 1966 Jocie Brooke here excited to be reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky because it’s SPRING BREAK!! No school for a whole week. We almost had to go to school on Monday and Tuesday, but then the Legislature said we didn’t have to make up all our snow days. So the superintendent just tacked on a few extra days to …
Time for a Spring Contest – Name the Flower
Spring is Here Hey, did you notice? It’s SPRING! The calendar says so. Now if some of us can get Mother Nature to go along with the calendar, we’ll be happy. Here things are beginning to look and sound like spring. The spring peepers are in full voice at night and in the morning, the birds are singing their spring …
Need a Few Influencers for a New Shaker Book
“The people who influence you are the people who believe in you.” ~Henry Drummond I am blessed by the influence of so many people who have believed in me through the years. My mother, first and foremost, always believed I could do whatever I set out to do. That’s not to say she might not have been a …