Starting a Novel, the Truth
Starting a novel. Here’s my dream. Dream with me a moment, okay? I’m sitting against a massive oak in a field of wildflowers, skirt spread around me, birds chirping, brook running merrily just a few feet away. In my lap I have a notebook and a fountain pen. The notebook cover is a vintage quilt…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Freedom
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect. -Eleanor Roosevelt I hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July weekend. One of my favorite…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Meet Kathryn Shay and Bayview Heights
Welcome to Fiction Friday. Today I want to share a collection of novels, the Bayview Heights Trilogy, which is on sale today. After being in an anthology together last year author Kathryn Shay and I learned that we live in the same place during winters, and not that far apart in the summers. So we now…
Read MoreHow Skilled Are We at Choosing a Mate?
The three major characters in No River Too Wide are not as diverse as they first appear. While they are varied in age and outlook on life, Harmony, Jan and Taylor have one major thing in common. Each woman is examining exactly what she looks for or looked for when choosing a man to love. Falling in…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: The Joy of Growing
I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow. -David Hobson ‘Tis the season for gardening, and my husband and I love to get our hands…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Meet Jan From No River Too Wide
Change is rarely easy. In the past two weeks I’ve introduced two of the three major women characters in No River Too Wide, which made its debut this week at your favorite bookstores. If you’ve been reading my Goddesses Anonymous series, then you already met Harmony Stoddard and Taylor Martin, who were both in One Mountain Away…
Read MoreIt’s Publication Day for No River Too Wide
Okay, it may be considered a “July” novel, but today is publication day for No River Too Wide. This is akin to waking your husband in the middle of the night and explaining that it’s time to go to the hospital because the baby is about to make an appearance. We never really know how…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “Keep close to Nature’s heart…”
In honor of the Summer Solstice, keep close to nature’s heart: Summer is the ideal time to enjoy our amazing natural world, but I find immersion in that beauty to be more than enjoyable. When I feel the pangs of stress, grief, frustration, or anger, I’ve learned, as John Muir counsels here, that walking among green…
Read MoreFiction Friday: Meet Harmony From No River Too Wide
Recognize this cover? No? It’s the new audio version of No River Too Wide. I’m absolutely delighted to say that all three books in the series are being recorded and published by Blackstone Audio, and they’ll be available as CDs and as MP3s on Audible. In fact (don’t tell anybody) it looks as if No River Too Wide is being…
Read MoreThe Write Way: What Belongs in Your Novel?
When is just enough too much? Certain rituals develop when you change houses twice a year. Since our summers here in Western New York are short, one of the first things we do once we arrive in May is to plant our “garden.” Garden in this instance mostly means pots because our yard is in…
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