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Christmas Cookies, A Tradition of Sharing
Did you know that Christmas cookies trace their lineage to medieval holiday rituals and Christmas cakes? Christmas lebkuchen (gingerbread) was probably the first “cookie” prepared for the holiday, and by the 1500s Christmas cookies had caught on all over Europe. The Dutch brought them to the US in 1600, and nobody’s looked back since. This Christmas cookie…
Read MoreWhich Comes First, The Novel or the Title
While I’m out of town visiting family and waiting for the arrival of the new grandchild, I thought I’d share a blog I wrote for Fresh Fiction in June of 2009. A search tells me it never appeared here, so enjoy now. I’ll be back with new blogs next week. Which comes first, the novel…
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 MoreAre You Well Connected, or a Slave to Technology?
Our TiVo died. Not without fanfare, and certainly not without warning. For the past four months, in the most interesting part of any program, the picture was nearly guaranteed to break up, the progress of the story halted as we rooted for TiVo to heal itself and continue until we discovered who had killed whom. …
Read MoreWhere, Oh Where, Has My Little Book Gone? Where, Oh Where, Can It Be?
I remember the days before Facebook. Yes, I’m that old. I remember when I pondered questions of great importance and wished I had someone to turn to for answers. No email, no Facebook, no Twitter. Wish no more. Recently I received an email from an unhappy reader. She had a discount coupon for Fortunate Harbor,…
Read MoreOh Say, Can You See?
Fireworks over Asheville, North Carolina last night, courtesy of photographer Galen McGee of Peak Definition and Two Rings Studio. How absolutely glorious.
Read MoreHow Many Ways Can We Say Hello? Pat Sloan’s Creative Talk Radio Show
I’ll confess, much about promoting a book is simply exhausting. Saying “no,” for instance, when I’m asked to speak–the exhausting part comes from deciding what I can manage each year and what’s just one thing too many. Book signings can be exhausting, too. Not the kind that should be, when a hundred readers are standing in front…
Read MoreGreat Expectations–The Chapters That Did NOT Get Written
I had great expectations for my time here, but the reality was even better. Sometimes it’s important to let go of expectations, to see what transpires without them. Some of life’s finest gifts arrive that way. My gift this past month was making new friends and learning to appreciate this remarkable community in a whole new way. I just bet, in the long run, Tracy, Wanda, Janya and Alice will all be better off for it when I settle in, once again, to tell their story.
Read MoreI Am Fortunate Because. . .
Just as writing Happiness Key made me think extra hard about what makes me happy and why, writing Fortunate Harbor made me think about all the ways I’ve been fortunate in my life. Taking a blessing inventory, if you will, is a thought-provoking discipline, and I’ve found the more I think about this, the more fortunate I…
Read MoreAnd a Bald Eagle In a Dead Tree
One of the things I love most about Sanibel Island is the diversity of wildlife. The birds amaze me. This morning a Great Egret performed a majestic stroll through our yard. On the beach varieties of sandpipers, gulls, pelicans, ibis and snowy egrets entertain us each morning and evening. Used to cardinals and sparrows in…
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