Nope. Didn’t win. Except, maybe I did in a way. Oh, I don’t have one of those sparkly glass awards to sit on my desk, but I sure as shooting felt like a winner last week at the Christy Award Gala and in the days following. MY WINS: I got to wear a fancy dress. It’s vintage–from the 1960s–and it […]
While my latest story technically releases tomorrow, we held the launch party for it at Sassafras on Sutton–a wonderful bookstore in Black Mountain, NC–yesterday. While I regularly speak in front of groups ranging from 10 to 200 for my job, talking about MY book to a group including MY friends is a whole other kettle of fish. At events like […]
I know Thursdays usually focus on something Appalachian, but hey, When Silence Sings is an Appalachian story, so that counts. Right? Thanks to everyone who entered to win a copy of my sixth novel by sharing what you’d like six of. It was such fun reading and responding to all your comments. Pygmy goats was one of my very favorite […]
I was astonished to see one book published. Now I’m about to see my sixth novel released to the world. Well, at least a slice of the world! One week from tomorrow is the official release date. I’ll be holding a launch party at Sassafras on Sutton–a charming bookstore in Black Mountain, NC–on Sunday, November 3. Here’s hoping readers like […]
I’m a bit of a girly-girl. (When I’m not being a tomboy.) So when I realized it would work out for me to go to the Christy Awards dinner–which is semi-formal–I began looking for a fancy dress. Oh, I have a dress that would work but who wants to settle for that?? There aren’t a ton of options for in-person […]
I don’t do TOO much book peddling on this blog, but with the release of When Silence Sings in less than three weeks I thought I’d mention it. Yup, my next Appalachian story will hit shelves on November 5. Or earlier in some cases! If you’d like to pre-order the book you can click on the cover image to the right. […]
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 When Silence Sings. First, I needed the names of my two rival clans. I’ll confess I went a little obvious here since one of the most famous feuds was between the Hatfields and McCoys. So, I went with the Harpes and the McLeans. Some good Scots-Irish names that echo the originals. Now, on to my main characters. Since my hero is a Jonah figure I did a little research and discovered that Jonah means “Dove.” Guess what Colman means in Irish? “Dove.” And in English it refers to someone who works with coal. Double winner! Serepta is a name I stumbled across doing genealogical research for my family in French Creek, West Virginia. And I really liked it! Ironically, the name means, “peaceful,” which Serepta is NOT. But I like that contrast. Maybe she will be one day. Jonah’s love interest is Ivy Gordon. Now, if you’re familiar with the story of Jonah you’ll know that once Jonah <reluctantly> finished his preaching in Ninevah he went outside the city and sulked under a vine. The Hebrew translation suggests that it was a gourd vine. So there you go–Ivy Gordon. Seemed […]
