Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee: A Writer's Perspective
Go Set a Watchman is not a sequel to Lee Harper’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I say that as a writer. As both a writer and a reader, I believe that we do a disservice to both books if we think of the later published book as a sequel to Mockingbird. I’ve been surprised by the […]
On Homes and Stability
This coming Sunday, September 13, is Grandparents Day. I was searching for a topic involving grandparents to write about, and I came across a post I wrote about my maternal grandparents’ house. I said in that post that these grandparents lived in that house from 1937 until 1962—twenty-five years. I thought their length of residency […]
Memories of Laughter, of Distance, and of Death
This picture of me and my brother was one of my mother’s favorites. It was taken in September 1972, shortly after we returned from the ceremony where he received his Eagle Scout award. He had just turned fifteen, and I was sixteen-and-a-half. That had been a long day in our home. My maternal grandmother, my […]
Lead Me Home—Cover Reveal!
It’s almost here! My novel, Lead Me Home, will be out later this fall. For now, smile with me at a close-to-final version of the cover. To follow my final progress on Lead Me Home and learn more about the book, you can Follow this blog on WordPress (click on “Follow” on the bar at […]
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey, by Rinker Buck
I have immersed myself in the nineteenth century over the last few weeks, editing my Oregon Trail novel for what I hope has been the final big push. It still needs some tweaking, but the book is essentially done. While I was spending hours each day deep in my novel, I read each evening from […]
Happy Dog Day From a Currently Dog-Free Human
In this post I reveal my curmudgeonly nature. Today, August 26, is Dog Day. I am happy to report that I neither own, nor am owned by, any dogs at the moment. I grew up with dogs. My parents owned Punky when I was born, though they had to give her away because she didn’t […]
Fighting Fires: Now and Then
Many of the forest fires raging in the West this summer are not far from places I know—outside of Twisp and Omak and Okanogan near Lake Chelan in Washington State; Clark Fork near Lake Pend d’Oreille in the Idaho Panhandle; and other fires in Oregon. I remember fires from lightning raging across Rattlesnake Mountain when […]
A Life-Long Friendship Now Forgotten
I’ve posted pictures of my mother as a child (see here and here) and others of her as a young woman before I knew her (see here and here). Some stories behind the pictures I know. And others I wish I knew. Mostly, I wish I’d known my mother better. What was she like as […]
The Manhattan Project at Home
I wrote a couple of months ago about how the Manhattan Project preserved the natural beauty of the Columbia Reach in eastern Washington. In addition to preserving this unique part of our nation’s landscape, the Manhattan Project also enhanced the development of my home town of Richland, Washington. 2015 is the 70th anniversary of the […]
Which Is More Awesome—Mount Rainier or the Blue Angels?
After the Cannon Beach portion of my recent trip west, my husband and I spent a few days in Seattle with our daughter. For these days also we had lovely weather, and Mount Rainier appeared on the horizon most days. I always marvel at this mountain, which looms thousands of feet above anything around it. […]