I don’t think I ever finished a book by reading with a flashlight under a cover, but I might have if I’d had a flashlight with batteries that lasted. When I was a kid, flashlights were more luxury than something on every shelf. Most of the time the one we did have seemed to always be lacking batteries and if …
A Day for Books and Smiles
“To dream of afar, to chase a star, to believe in Captain Hook. To dance with bears and have no cares, this is the magic of a book.” ― H.L. Stephens The Kentucky Book Fair was yesterday, and in my last blog post I mentioned that I’d probably smile so much all day that I would have tired smiling muscles …
Book Fest at the Library
In the last few months I’ve had the privilege of visiting several libraries to share about my books with readers there. Last Saturday, it was fun to be able to have one of those book events right here in my hometown. Along with about thirty other authors I got to be part of the first annual Anderson Public Library Book …
Another Hometown Book Party
If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book. (J.K. Rowling) In 2005, my first inspirational novel, Scent of Lilacs, was published. It had been several years since I’d had the fun of having a book published. So when that book was released, it was almost like having a first ever book published again. In fact …
In the Good Ol’ Summertime
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” -Henry James Do you remember how you looked forward to summer vacation when you were a kid in school? I do even though summer did hold plenty of chores and work days for this farm girl. But there was also time to …
Have We Forgotten How to Read?
I just read an internet post that suggests we’ve forgotten how to read. It included this quote from Eric Schmidt, the founder of Google. “I worry that the level of interrupt, the sort of overwhelming rapidity of information … is in fact affecting cognition. It is affecting deeper thinking. I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is …
The Winter Drearies
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. ~Edgar Allan Poe Do you ever get the mid-winter drearies? I like living in a place that has seasons. I like going from spring to summer to fall and even to winter, except sometimes winter seems a few weeks too long. And winter has a way of hiding the …
A Stormy Day
Summertime always brings a few storms. I was just about to go out and pick my blackberries before the birds ate them all and check whether the varmints had been back after the tomatoes, when the sky started getting dark and even began rumbling at me. Not to be deterred, I picked the blackberries anyway since the thunder was simply …
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 …