Christmas in Springtime: The Seasons of Grace Quilt and Other Gifts
More than a year ago, quilt and fabric designer Pat Sloan and I began a block of the month project based on a quilt mentioned in Sister’s Choice, the fifth book in my Shenandoah Album series. This month we’re pleased to say we have just posted the final pattern of the series, the layout(s), cutting, and…
Read MoreMail Bonding: Letters from My Readers
Dear Ms. Richards, Recently I found your Shenandoah Album books and read them all. Sure I had found an author I could admire and trust, I went back and read some of your other novels. I found several words that I don’t even want to “think.” I am now ashamed to be seen with your novels. I…
Read MoreCreativity by Ingredients: Recipes and Plots, Cooking and Writing
Those of you who have “fanned” my page on Facebook know I like to cook. In fact you’ve probably figured out that I like to cook from the Internet. And it’s true. The Yahoo homepage I stare at every morning, is a one of a kind original, with feeds and “widgets” chosen by me. My page…
Read MoreThere Be Pirates: Illegal Downloads and Why They Affect You
Free books are a treat we all enjoy. Books given as gifts. Books won in contests, like the ones I frequently offer here and on my website. Books loaned to us by good friends. Even books checked out at the library, although, of course, your taxes support that fabulous institution, so technically those books aren’t…
Read MoreThe Rift That Will Not Mend–When Adoptions Fail
This week the news networks were filled with stories of the “mother” who sent her adopted son back to Russia, unaccompanied by anybody except flight attendants and the child’s own distress and sense of failure. Her action was wrong, plain and simple. No child deserves that treatment. No flight attendant deserves or should accept that kind of responsibility. And…
Read MoreTrigger Unhappy–Avoiding Anger and Embracing Patience
There I was on the telephone with my county treasurer’s office, holding in my hand the threatening letter they’d sent because my annual application for a business license had been two days late, and, according to their records, my 10% fine had not yet been paid. I had paid it, of course, immediately after receiving the…
Read MoreDon’t Blink, It’s Spring And This Is The Moment To Say Ahh. . .
This morning we finally found time to visit the rebirth of cherry blossoms on the tidal basin near the Jefferson Memorial. My husband and I took care of all the morning’s business, planning as we cleared kitchen counters and put away the homemade muesli and sourdough bread. We debated taking the dog. We debated taking…
Read MoreTell No Lies: A Candid Interview with Julie Compton, Author of Rescuing Olivia
One of the real joys of my job is meeting other writers. Several years ago I had the opportunity to speak at a book festival in St. Louis, and Julie Compton, was on the same panel to promote Tell No Lies, her first novel. I liked her immediately. Beautiful, intelligent, witty and warm. Really, all in…
Read MorePlay It Again, Sam–When Word Processors Go Wrong
My friend Diane Chamberlain made a terrifying discovery this week. Somehow, through no fault of her own, one of her minor characters, Sam, began showing up in the strangest places in her novel. At the beginning of sentences instead of the word “but.” In scenes with other characters, when he suddenly played all the roles. …
Read MoreCan You Really Judge a Book By Its Cover? Covers, Reissues, and Giveaways
The cover to the left is the newest for my novel Rising Tides, originally released in 1997 and scheduled to be re-released in this lovely edition in November of 2010. Reissues can present both problems and possibilities for authors. On the possibility side, reissues give new readers a chance to enjoy novels we wrote before…
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