Working in My Mother’s Garden
I wrote last week that I am not an outdoorsy person. Perhaps that’s because some of my early experiences outdoors were unpleasant. I remember many unsavory tasks in my mother’s garden during my childhood summers. Mother had a few flower beds around the house that we moved into when I was six and a half. […]
My Screened Porch
In the midst of the pandemic, we are all looking for little moments of joy, for something to take our minds off the horrible statistics and other depressing news stories. I’ve never been an outdoorsy person, but I’ve found that spending time with nature has been a help over the past few months. I’ve taken […]
No More Five-County Days
The Kansas City metropolitan area spans the state line between Kansas and Missouri. Kansas City, Missouri, is larger than Kansas City, Kansas, though both are part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area. There are actually fourteen counties in the Kansas City MSA, nine in Missouri and five in Kansas. Kansas City, Missouri, itself spans […]
Putting a Little Zest in Life
A friend and I recently exchanged emails about cooking. Neither of us is the cook our mothers were, but my friend said she had more time on her hands to cook because of the pandemic. I hate to cook, but I’m desperate for a greater variety of meals. She mentioned that she uses Hello Fresh, […]
Firing the Babysitter
One summer day about 38 years ago today, I thought my career would come to a crashing halt. We had to fire the babysitter. Our son—our first child—was five and a half months old. I’d gone back to work when he was three months old, and my husband and I had hired a babysitter to […]
Researching Historical Fiction: The Owyhee Expedition
As I’ve written before, I plan to set my next historical novel in Oregon in 1864. I’ve had the idea for this next book since I began writing Lead Me Home, which I first drafted in 2008 (it wasn’t published until 2015). Soon, it will be time to start writing that next book in the […]
Moving Toward Publication: Beta Readers and Book Design on My Work-in-Progress
It’s a scary time for me right now—I’ve sent my current manuscript out to the first people beyond my critique group. In writers’ parlance, these people are called beta readers. The book isn’t done—it can still be changed—but it’s far enough along that major revisions would be painful and, for independent authors such as me, […]
Stories I Couldn’t Tell Before: I Had to Marry To Get a Car
There are disadvantages to being the oldest child. Although the theory is that oldest children get more of their parents’ attention, this isn’t always something kids relish. And sometimes being the first kid to raise certain issues means parents haven’t thought through their responses yet. In my case, I remember my parents as graduate students […]
One Year Later: Changes in Our Neighborhood
I’m rushing this post a bit, because we didn’t move into our new home until almost the end of July last year. But we are in the middle of warranty checks on the house (the builder provided a one-year warranty), so I’m thinking about all the changes we’ve seen over the past year. Who could […]
Thursday Is the New Friday . . . If Any Day Is
Friday evening has always been the time I saved for my own enjoyment. All through college and law school, I refused to study on Friday evenings, except during finals week. Middlebury didn’t have much television to offer before the dorms were wired for Internet, but various organizations showed movies for fundraisers almost every night of […]