Fiction Friday: Quilting Bees and Bees in the Bonnet
Welcome to Fiction Friday, a chance to share excerpts of some of my books with you. While I’m starting with those currently on sale, eventually some may be entirely new. In fact, some may even be excerpts from other people’s books. This is definitely a work in progress. Last week I introduced you to Nancy,…
Read MoreDeadlines, Guests and the Downside of Mother Nature
The last week was spent sleeping off a cold, entertaining my very thoughtful and independent guests when I could, and somehow sneaking in pages on No River Too Wide when I felt up to it. It was not spent blogging, but no wonder. I know you understand. Fiction Friday will be back (guess which day)…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “Every morning is a new arrival”
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes. As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Three Generations of Women and a Wedding Ring Quilt
Welcome to Fiction Friday, a chance to share snippets of my books with you. While I’m starting with some of my books currently on sale, eventually some may be entirely new. Today’s excerpt is from Wedding Ring, the first book of the Shenandoah Album series. Wedding Ring and the next two novels, Endless Chain and…
Read MoreThose Difficult Chapters in Life and in Novels
I am on a deadline. So what else is new? In college when I had an “end” in sight, a paper, a test, a project, I had a bad habit of waiting until the last minute, a habit I unlearned by my senior year. When I began to write I had learned my lesson. I worked…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Kindness
Most people, as they age, become less selfish and more loving… Since…your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up, Speed it along. Start right now. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there is also a cure. So be a good…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Kangaroos, Koalas and Wallabies
Welcome to Fiction Friday, a chance to share snippets of my books with you. Some are old, some might be books in progress, eventually some may be entirely new content. Today’s excerpt is from the fourth and final book of my Tales of the Pacific series, which was originally issued in 1988-89, and tells the story…
Read MoreThe Write Way: Finding Ideas for your Novel
I’m sitting at my desk in my new writing home. I wish I could tell you it’s the perfect study, soundproof, light-filled, roomy enough for all my books and research material but not the least bit barny. Actually this room is light-filled, because I’m working in the glassed-in porch of our old, old cottage in…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: The Dismantling of Barriers
“Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased. ‘Be compassionate as God is compassionate,’ means the dismantling of barriers that exclude.” I heard Father Greg Boyle speak this week, and I was deeply moved and…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Opal Dreams and Barroom Brawls
Welcome to Fiction Friday, a chance for me to share bits of novels written or novels in progress. I spent much of the past month editing my Tales of the Pacific series written in the late 1980s so I could reissue each of the four as ebooks. For the past two Fridays I’ve introduced you…
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