Archive for May 2013
What Do Readers Think? I Really Want to Know.
I’ve been hoping to have more renovation photos for you to enjoy (?) this week. The workmen are finishing up, so it’s a slow morning here in Chautauqua, New York. We only have a plumber, electrician, wallboard guy and flooring guy cutting tile. I can almost hear the birds sing. More photos will be up…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “This is my home…”
“This Is My Song” (words by Lloyd Stone, to the tune of Finlandia) This is my song, oh God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is; here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine; but other hearts in…
Read MoreDo Authors Have Favorites? Lover’s Knot and the Shenandoah Album Series
So here’s what a novelist tells a reader who wants to know which of her own books is her favorite. “A book is like a baby. A mom loves all her children equally.” Right. . . I’m here to tell you it’s not true. I did not love all my children equally. Oh, sure, total…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “Adding to future life…”
Even I would like to believe when I die that I have given myself away like a tree that sows seed every spring and never counts the loss, because it is not loss, it is adding to future life. It is the tree’s way of being. Strongly rooted perhaps, but spilling out its treasure on…
Read MoreCrazy Cottage Capers–A Victorian Summer Cottage Grows Up
When you read this I’ll be in New York looking at the renovations to our summer cottage in person. But since there’s an excellent chance the Internet won’t be working–along with the kitchen and any number of other basics–I thought I’d blog ahead of time to let you see more photos of our work in…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: A Prayer for Mothers
Mother’s Day Sunday Let us pray for: The mothers too tired to enter or too busy to care. This is for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at soccer games Friday night instead of watching from cars, so that when their kids asked, “Did you see my goal?” they could…
Read MoreBook Clubs: Asking Questions to Deepen Understanding
When I decided to offer fifteen copies of Iron Lace (along with a king cake and phone interview) to raise money for diabetes research, I made my decision with the full knowledge that Iron Lace is one of my most popular novels for book discussion groups. Later I went back to my own website to…
Read MoreThe Setting We Never Got to See
Today I’m sharing some photos of my trip to Guatemala, all from our visit to the Chichicastenango in the Highlands on market day. Last week I explained that the trip was research for Endless Chain–just reissued–book two of the Shenandoah Album series. The trip was a bit unusual since I traveled there after the book…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Your task is not to seek for love
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (more often known simply as Rumi) was born in Persia in a village which is most likely in modern day Tajikistan and lived from 1207 to 1293. He was a poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic. In 2007 he was said to be the most popular poet in America, and his…
Read MoreDiabetes Research, King Cake, and Iron Lace. What Do They Have in Common?
Author Brenda Novak’s annual auction to raise money for diabetes research in now in full swing. This year I’ve donated 15 autographed copies of Iron Lace for your favorite book club to read and discuss, a new Orleans King Cake to eat during the discussion–shipped directly to you from a New Orleans bakery–and a phone…
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