What Happened in Oregon City in 1850-52? Researching My Work-in-Progress
My current work-in-progress takes place mostly in the Oregon City area, beginning in October 1850. I think the novel’s timeline will take me into 1852, but I don’t know for sure yet. When I did the research for Now I’m Found, which was set in Oregon and California between 1848 and 1850, I was careful […]
Random Photos: Unaccompanied Minors and a Love of the West
As I look back on my childrearing years, one of the things I’m glad I did was to send my kids away from home. It gave my kids more independence and adventures than my husband and I could give them while we were busy with our jobs. Other than a few camp experiences, I mostly […]
My First Broken Bone
As I wrote last week, my husband and I are dealing with his broken kneecap. He had surgery, which successfully wired the bone pieces back together, and he is moving pretty well a week later, but he will be in the knee immobilizer for several weeks longer. His broken patella brings to mind my first […]
A Chat About Frontier Travel With Gar LaSalle, Author of the WIDOW WALK Saga
Last summer I had the opportunity to chat with Gar LaSalle, who, like me, writes historical fiction about the West. Scott James of Solipsis Publishing moderated our conversation, and the audio and transcript are now available on Gar’s blog. The audio will give you the flavor of our conversation more accurately, but if you’d prefer […]
In an Instant, My Valentine’s Life Changed . . . and So Did Mine
We have all had times when life changed in an instant—an accident, illness, natural disaster, or other event strikes, and there is “before” and “after.” My husband and I had one of those times last week. On February 5, I got a surprise call from my husband in the middle of the day. “Can you […]
A Surprise, Starting Thirty-Six Years Ago Today
I remember many details about February 12, 1982, thirty-six years ago today. It was my last day of work before I was scheduled to begin my maternity leave. I was due to have a baby about ten days later. I finished a couple of projects that day, and late in the afternoon I cleaned off […]
A Pox on Chickenpox (Part 2)
I wrote recently about my son’s bout with chickenpox in January 1986. Well, as I feared, a couple of weeks after he recovered, his little sister broke out in spots. She was not quite nine months old at the time—just a baby. But a baby with a forceful personality. As the second child in the […]
FOREVER MINE is now available!
As I announced last week to subscribers to my newsletter, Forever Mine is now available—just in time for Valentine’s Day! If you have a Valentine who likes to read love stories, family sagas, or American history, I encourage you to send them a copy. You can find Forever Mine at the following sites: Amazon: Paperback […]
Happy 90th Birthday To My Mother-in-Law
Even before I met my mother-in-law-to-be, I wrote her. It was shortly before Mother’s Day in 1977. I’d been dating her son for a couple of months. When I bought the Mother’s Day cards for my mother and grandmothers in early May, I picked up a “To Someone Special” Mother’s Day card, wrote her a […]
Six Years of Blogging: A Measure of Time and an Assessment of Life
I launched my blog “Story & History: One writer’s journey through life and time” in January 2012, publishing only three short posts that month. It took awhile to find my rhythm (stepped up to publishing twice a week) and my voice. For five years, I published on WordPress.com, and last year I moved here to […]