Blog

Story Behind the Story: April Gardner

It’s believed my great, great+ grandfather might have been Chief Red Eagle/William Weatherford of the Creek Indians. The legend I’d always heard was that he jumped off a cliff to save his people. Lying in bed early one morning, I wished I could read the story in a...

Story Behind the Story: Henry McLaughlin

  The idea for the novel came first as an image of a man, Michael Archer, standing on ridge looking down on a small town. As I asked myself why he was there, the story unfolded: He was there to attempt reconciliation, a prodigal by proxy, of a son, Ben Carstairs,...

Book Review: Unbroken

This book completely took my breath away. I was in love with Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit, but this one eclipses it—and then some. I downloaded this to my Kindle and thanked God I had it during a 16-hour roadtrip with my family. I was raptured by the book from page...

Book Review: The Promises She Keeps

Book Description It's her destiny to die young. The man who loves her can't live with that. Promise, a talented young vocalist with a terminal illness, is counting on fame to keep her memory alive after she dies. Porta is an aging witch and art collector in search of...

Story Behind the Story: Laurie Alice Eaks

  Lady in the Mist released from Baker Publishing February 1, 2011 and has already been picked up by Crossings Book Club and by Thorndike Press for large print. The whole thing started thirteen years ago. I was in graduate school studying history with the duel...

Story behind the Story: James L. Rubart

In late 2000 my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I began to live the great sadness of seeing my father slip into the chains of Alzheimer's, and watched his memories fade away. I wondered where they were going. Was God catching them as they escaped his mind? Would...

Story behind the Story: Robert Elmer

Guest Blog by Robert Elmer - See my review of his book, Wildflowers at Terezin! My Danish heritage has flavored my interest in writing historical fiction, and I’ve always been interested in history. Perhaps it’s that way with children of immigrants. There’s a strong...

What I’ve Been Reading

I love my Kindle. Love. Love. Here's a little snipbit of what I've been reading the past few weeks, and my thoughts on them... Reference/NonFiction - The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman I've had this on my to-read list for years. Every author sings is praises, and...

Best Blog Advice

Lately, I've been trying to focus my blog, improve the look, increase traffic. You know - what every blogger/writer strives for. So, I've taken a scientific approach, of sorts, and studied the blogs that WORK. (Note - this is a very incomplete list!) Pioneer Woman - I...

What a character

Ask any writer, and they're bound to have at least a dozen stories of people they met who later influenced or reappeared as one of their characters (maybe in an unpublished manuscript at least.) For me, I not only have people who stick with me, but animals. To the...