Brainstorming 2016: Ideas Are Never the Problem
Certain recurring themes thread their way through the lives of all writers, fiction and non-fiction alike. One of them we can count on? At some point we will all be approached by someone or someones who tell us they have an idea for a book and they’ll share it if we promise to write the book for…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Old Friends
I spent most of a week with my brainstorming friends this month. This quote says it all. Thanks for old friends who understand when an idea isn’t top notch and a phrase can’t be recalled and an idea dies mid-sentence. I hope you have old friends like this, as well. Maybe you can send this…
Read MoreSummer Time and The Giving Is Easy
Between a week of brainstorming, a busy family weekend with two of our four children and their children, and a tummy bug of some sort, I think a nap has to have higher priority today than my blog. By next week I expect to be back in full swing Meantime, today–as I write this–it’s the…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Father’s Day
I love this quote, which I found on the Barnes and Noble website, and it seems exactly right for Father’s Day. I hope today is filled with memories of good men who have been fathers or like fathers to you throughout your life. I’m glad we have set aside a time to celebrate and remember…
Read MoreBrainstorming Week
Since Sunday my brainstorming partners have been in residence at our cottage on Chautauqua Lake working on a variety of books. I always love this annual retreat because so many knots are untied and ideas are embroidered. Tonight, though, I shake my head at how little I’ve accomplished so far, other than discarding what seemed…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Do More
Resurrecting the Past
While my new book, When We Were Sisters, explores the lives of two foster sisters who are slowly resurrecting the past they shared, in my own life, I’ve been doing some of the same. Some of you know that we lost our beloved beagle several weeks ago. Nemo’s death was a surprise of the kind none…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Overcoming Suffering
Helen Keller should know. Born blind and deaf, she overcame more suffering than most of us can imagine, becoming one of the most inspirational writers of the 20th century. I’ve used her quotes before, and probably will again. All of us suffer throughout our lives, but isn’t it amazing — bordering on miraculous — how…
Read MoreSix Things I Learned from When We Were Sisters
Yippee, it’s launch day for When We Were Sisters! Today When We Were Sisters arrives at stores. Those of you who pre-ordered from online bookstores like Amazon or Barnes and Noble will probably find your copy in the mail or on your e-reader today. I hope you enjoy it. Would you like an autographed copy? I have…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: We honor the dead…
Before we moved to Florida we lived in Arlington, Virginia, and our home was only a few miles from Arlington Cemetery. I visited when a friend or family member from the military was laid to rest, and I was always shocked by how beautiful a place it is, the rolling hills of green lawns and majestic…
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