“Where’s That Baby?” Redux
Soon I will get to meet my new granddaughter. I have anticipated this moment for months. I can’t wait to get her into my arms. And yet, I also remember how it felt to have my own new baby—it seemed everyone wanted the baby, and no one wanted me anymore. I described one incident with […]
I’m a Grandmother!
Over the past many months, one thing I have not written about was my soon-to-be status as a grandmother. My daughter had a baby last week—my first grandchild. I can’t post a picture, nor reveal the child’s name, because I have promised my daughter I would not do so without her permission. In preparation for […]
Milestone: Sending My Work-in-Progress To Beta Readers
I’ve reached an exciting point in writing my current work-in-progress—I’m about to send the manuscript out to beta readers. Writers define and use “beta readers” differently. I now use them when the basic plot is baked (though details can still be tweaked), when I’ve edited the manuscript fairly well (though there are likely typos and […]
Birthday Celebrations in 19th-Century America
Birthday celebrations figure in several of my novels, including my current work-in-progress. But I’ve never posted about how people actually celebrated birthdays in the 19th century. I decided some research was in order. But most families who had a lot of children could not afford to celebrate everyone’s birthday. So in 1860s Oregon, farming families […]
Winter Park 2010: A Reflection on Life and Time
As I browsed through my digital photographs looking for something to write about, I came across a folder of pictures I took on a ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado, in 2010. The trip actually took place in late March 2010, during my daughter’s last spring break in law school. But a ski trip is […]
My Self-Image Through Rose-Colored Glasses
I recently got new eyeglasses. I’ve needed corrective lenses since I was eight and a half, so this was not a new experience for me. But every time I get new frames, my image of myself changes. My first glasses were blue cat-eyes. I was assured they were very cute. And I was so happy […]
My Work-in-Progress: Diving into My Plot with Scrivener and Aeon Timeline
I am starting the New Year with a new resolve to finish my novel. I have confronted the timeline issue that has plagued me for the last couple of months. I moved the starting point of the story a month earlier, and I have finally plugged the hole which that change created. My timeline now […]
The Pause Between Years
I usually post about Oregon history during the last week of the month, but this week I am feeling the pause between years. The week between Christmas and New Year’s has always felt to me like time to heave a big sigh and relax, to sit in the moment suspended between past and future. Most […]
Perfect Christmases
When I think of my childhood Christmases, I think of going to my grandparents’ home in Klamath Falls, Oregon. They moved out of that house when I was six or seven, and some of my earliest Christmases were spent at my home rather than traveling to my grandparents’ house. So I can’t have spent more […]
The Brass Bucket: A Family Heirloom
Ever since I have known him (46 years now), my husband has kept his magazines in a brass bucket. This bucket was something he acquired from his great-aunt. Why she had it, I do not know. She lived on a farm for many years, a farm that has been in the family for over 100 […]