NaNoWriMo 2020, Off To a Great Start
I’ve mentioned NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) before—the national endeavor by authors around the world to write 50,000 words on their novels during the month of November. I’ve always had excuses for why I shouldn’t participate. The timing never seemed right. I’ve never written more than 20,000 words in a month. Plus, there’s Thanksgiving and […]
Steamboat Competition on the Willamette River in the 1860s
I’m trying to find business interests for one of my characters in my next Oregon historical novel. The novel is set in 1864, and Oregon didn’t yet have any railroads, other than a few small portages around falls on the rivers. But there was active steamboat competition along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. The People’s […]
Random Photo: My Ninja & Pumpkin . . . A Simpler World Before the Pandemic
I hadn’t intended to write about a random photo today. I was looking for a specific photo to write about, but in my (unsuccessful) search for that snapshot, I found these Halloween pictures. Since this is the season for all things pumpkin, I will write about them. Thus, while these photos were a random find, […]
Balancing Humility With Confidence
I saw a post recently titled “The Timeless Writing Struggle: Ego vs. Humility” by Karen Debonis on the Writers in the Storm website that struck home for me. Ms. Debonis had written a memoir, and she described how she went from believing that her early draft would be a “runaway bestseller,” to realizing she had […]
Hallmarket Is Virtual!
Since 2009, Hallmark Cards has held an annual art festival outside its headquarters facility in Kansas City. This festival, called Hallmarket, showcases the artistic creations of Hallmark employees and retirees apart from their work for Hallmark. And Hallmark employees have marvelous and varied talents. This year, because of the pandemic, Hallmarket is virtual. And for […]
Which Would I Rather Be—a Recluse or a Hermit?
I used to debate with myself whether I would rather be a recluse or a hermit after I retired. I could never decide for sure. All I knew was that I suspected I would want less human contact, rather than more, as I aged. The definitions of the two words are quite similar. Merriam-Webster says […]
An Autumn Walk at Sunset
Last Saturday evening I took a walk after dinner. I had intended to stay on the neighborhood sidewalks, but a gaggle of high-school girls all gussied up for homecoming pictures stopped me. They and their mothers were having such a good time, even during this pandemic, that I didn’t want to interrupt. So I turned […]
Hits and Misses in Other Book Clubs
I wrote in my last post about one of my book clubs, the one I call the Best Book Club Ever. But I am also in two other book clubs at the moment, and they each have their benefits as well. A year ago (in pre-pandemic days), I joined a new parish and began attending […]
Hits and Misses of the Best Book Club Ever
Traditionally, in October, National Book Month, I have posted about “haunting books”—books that have stayed with me after I read them. This month, I thought I’d focus on what I’ve been forced to read because of my participation in various book clubs. Left to my own devices, I would probably read mostly popular fiction—thrillers and […]
Bragging: Recent Reviews and Recognition for My Novels
One of the joys of writing is getting feedback from readers. Of course, the feedback isn’t always positive, but reader reviews are generally a reward for the long slog of writing and editing. Here are some of the reviews readers have posted recently about my novels on Amazon. Each of these reviews—as well as most […]