Seven Years Later: What I Know About Websites
I recently received a notification from somewhere in my social media memories that I launched this website, TheresaHuppAuthor.com, just over seven years ago, in February 2017. I posted in mid-March of that year about what I’d learned as I developed this site. Seven years feels like a generation in the internet world. Maybe two generations. […]
Finding Renewed Energy (and Time) for Writing
I’ve had a really hard time making progress on the first draft of my current work-in-progress, which will likely be the last book in my Oregon historical fiction series. I started it in late May 2023, and I’m not done with the first draft yet, though I’m beginning to see the end. It’s frustrating, because […]
Remembering My Mother as a Grandmother
Now that I’m a grandmother, I find myself thinking of my mother more frequently. Though I know comparisons are irrelevant, I reminisce about what my mother did as a grandmother when my kids were babies. She lived about as far away from us then as I live from my granddaughter now. She, too, had to […]
Local Newspapers, Then and Now
I’ve read several articles and editorials in recent months about the demise of local newspapers. An editorial in The New York Times last November reported that 204 counties in the United States had no local newspaper, and 1,562 counties had only one. The Medill Local News Initiative found that in addition to the 204 counties […]
Reviewing Old Photographs: More Treasures, Not Much Trash
Before we moved into our current home in 2019, I did a lot of cleaning and sorting, which revealed many treasures and trash. But there were many boxes I moved from one house to the next without any review. Some of those were boxes of things from my parents, and I thought I had reviewed […]
My Granddaughter’s First Birthday — Another Early Valentine
As I mentioned in my last post, my granddaughter just passed her first birthday. My husband and I were privileged to visit her for the occasion and to celebrate with her, her parents, and other family members. We had other reasons for making the trip, but I timed it to coincide with her birthday. This […]
Letters to My Grandchild: A Writing Exercise in Intimidation
Every once in a while I come across a book that intimidates me. Sometimes, it’s too long. Sometimes, it’s too literary or slow for my tastes, and I don’t want to commit. Sometimes, it’s just not appealing. I don’t like to stop books in the middle, but sometimes I do, or I refuse to start […]
I Can Finally Cook a Pot Roast
When I was growing up, my mother regularly made pot roast because my father (a native Midwesterner) liked it. I liked the pot roast and the potatoes that were cooked with it, but I detested the carrots. I’ve written before about sitting at the dinner table for an hour after everyone else left because I […]
Covid . . . The Rest of the Story (I Hope)
I wrote last week about getting Covid after four years of apparently avoiding it. Unfortunately, Covid is the gift that keeps on giving. My husband and I first tested positive on January 10. I’d had a scratchy throat for a day or two, and he had been coughing a bit, but we both felt pretty […]
Covid, At Last . . . And Other Woes
In my January 3 post, I mentioned the possibility that life would throw more roadblocks in the way than I foresaw. Well, I didn’t have to wait long. My husband and I tested positive for Covid on January 10. Neither of us has been terribly sick, and I went on Paxlovid immediately (he takes too […]