Appalachian Blessings
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Naming My Characters
One of my great joys in writing is naming my characters. I don't have children and my brothers didn't let me name any of my nieces or nephews so I'm left with naming my characters. Which is fine. There are more of them! I particularly enjoyed naming the characters in...
Appalachian Thursday – Rural Mail Delivery
I love getting mail. Well, REAL mail. And there's so little of it anymore. Email has become a nuisance (often a convenient one!) and even physical mail is diluted with catalogs, flyers, and other junk mail. But when I get a real package, card, or the oh-so-rare...
When Silence Sings – First Review
You would think that after reading a book 16 times, having it edited by a raft of talented folks at a publishing house, and knowing readers are already pre-ordering it would give an author a smidge of confidence. But something happens between the time I sign off on...
Appalachian Thursday – Bread on the Table
We had friends over for supper on Sunday and I didn't serve bread. It took nerve, I know. Whether you serve biscuits, cornbread, or light bread, there should ALWAYS be bread on an Appalachian table. Maybe because it helped simple ingredients go a long way. Maybe...
The Christy Award Nomination
The Christy Award has been around since 1999. And while I try not to put too much stock in winning awards, I'll confess to really, really hoping for a Christy. And last week A Shot at Love from The Christmas Heirloom novella collection was nominated. The award,...
Appalachian Thursday – Boom Town to Ghost Town
My soon-to-release novel, When Silence Sings, is set in part in Thurmond, WV. While there's plenty to make this southern WV town interesting, one of the main things is that in the early 1900s it was a rich boom town. Today, it's essentially a ghost town owned largely...
Daddies & Daughters
Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Sharon Robinson, baseball great Jackie Robinson's daughter. I HOPE you already know what a huge impact Jackie Robinson had on the civil rights movement by breaking the color barrier in sports when he played for the Brooklyn...
Appalachian Thursday – A Hard Winter
It definitely feels like summer today in the mountains of Western NC. But even as I sweat, I'm noticing signs pointing toward a rough winter. Last week I saw my first wooly worm. All black. This morning I saw another just the same. Acorns are already falling and the...
Meet Sarah
