The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Abe Lincoln and the Election of 1860
One of the joys of living in Northern Virginia is experiencing the past. So much American history was made right here, and no drive into the nation’s capital goes by without finding a building I’ve never noticed before, in which events that rocked the world took place. When the National Park Service recently offered a…
Read MoreMore Infrequently Asked Questions–From the sublime to the ridiculous
I had so much fun answering questions a few months ago that I decided to ask for more on my Facebook Page to go with some I’ve saved from emails. In the future, if you have a question that’s not answered on my website at my FAQ (under Bio at the top), please email me to…
Read MoreDeadline Delicacies: You Can Write and Eat Your Veggies, Too
October in Virginia is the last gasp for fresh vegetables at our local farmer’s market. Having just mailed off my latest book, I took the morning to visit and stock up for a week of roasted veggies. While the pickings were slimmer than they’d been a month before, I still returned home with armloads of…
Read MoreEyes Wide Open, and Pen (?) in Hand
** Be sure to read to the end for a chance to win an autographed novel. Yesterday, Monday, was celebration day. On Sunday I sent Sunset Bridge to my editor. These days that’s as “easy” as attaching the manuscript to an email and clicking “send.” Of course everything that went before? Not so easy. Months…
Read MoreYou Say You Want A Digital Revolution?
If you read my recent blog on writers and friendship, you know I spent last week at the Novelist’s Inc. workshop on St. Pete Beach, my old stomping grounds. It’s always a surprise when I go home to find not the huge changes we sometimes see, but a re-creation of the past. My neighborhood looks much the…
Read MoreWith A Little Help From My Friends
Earlier in the fall I asked my Facebook readers what topics they would like to see here at Southern Exposure. Brandi Jones asked about my relationship with other authors. She wondered if we critique or brainstorm together, help each other out of writer’s block or even lend ideas. She was surprised at the lack of…
Read MoreThey Don’t Call ‘Em “Dead”lines For Nothing
I spent yesterday searching for hidden objects. What time I didn’t spend with nose to ground–a skill I learned from the local beagle–I spent watching half the appliances in my house fall apart. Ah, some people look for signs of changing seasons, colored leaves gently drifting to the ground, that first tracing of frost on…
Read MoreThe Write Way: Come On, Did I Really Say That?
Time for another The Write Way blog, so listen up. For those of you in the know, once a month–or thereabouts–I present my take on how to write a novel. Pop over to the “categories” listing to the right and click on “The Write Way” to see all those that have gone before. If you’re…
Read MoreThe Challenging Life of a Minister’s Wife, Part Two–An Interview With Emilie Richards
I’ll confess that when I recently interviewed Aggie Sloan-Wilcox for this blog, she was only too happy to comply. However there was a caveat. Aggie claimed that to be fair, I ought to submit to an interview with her, as well. Aggie’s nothing if not determined. And those of you acquainted with her know that…
Read MoreSniffing Out A Story, One Piece of Evidence At A Time
I’m still not quite sure how this happened. One moment I volunteered to dog-sit for the pathetic puppy that my son and daughter-in-law had rescued from the path of a bush hog and nursed back to health. The next I was on the telephone with my husband, who was out of town at a conference. …
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