Well, okay, we’re almost out of spring and into summer, but that doesn’t rhyme. ‘Tis the season for gardening and outdoor projects, and I have a fun idea for you. We had a geranium that was barely surviving because its pot didn’t have good drainage. My husband found a section of tree trunk with a hole in the center, added…
Today is the big day! Gone South is in bookstores all over the place. Big thanks to my patient and long-suffering family, my critique partners and friends, my editors and all the wonderful people at Multnomah, and most of all to my readers who light up my life with their willingness to enter the world of my imaginary friends. In…
A few weeks ago, the UPS driver left a box at the door while I wasn’t home. It was a fun surprise: my first copies of Gone South. I love the cover! Thanks to Multnomah’s art department for capturing the protagonist’s impetuous personality as well as the lush green look of northern Alabama. My favorite details? Tish’s…
Last week, I spent a few days on a writing retreat in Blue Ridge, Georgia, with two of my friends. We shared the cost of a rented cabin and brought our own easy-fix food, leaving lots of time to plot and write. I’ve wrangled a new story idea into something that vaguely resembles an outline, but I expect it to…
I don’t remember what year it was or exactly why I’d opened a search engine to look for Larry Norman, the musical icon of the Jesus Movement, but I found a lot more than an article about Larry Norman. I found the guy who’d written the article: Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk. The more I browsed Michael’s blog, the more…
Congratulations to my friend Karen Campbell on the sixth anniversary of producing podcasts on her blog, “That Mom,” which is a great source of information and encouragement for homeschooling mothers. She features good recipes on her site, too. Every one I’ve tried has ended up in my big, messy, three-ring binder where I keep my favorites. Not that I’m much…
I took this picture a couple of weeks ago on a foggy morning in the back yard. I’m not a great photographer, but I have fun with my little camera–especially when the subject matter is something that holds still, like a tree. My photos of moving targets (birds, deer, grandchildren) are often just blurs of motion, destined for the delete…
First, just because I love him, here’s a picture of Hobbes, one of our elderly kitties. Now, on to the news. For my friends who are waiting for the release of “A Stillness of Chimes,” I’m afraid you’ll wait a little longer. My publisher is switching the order of my second and third novels. (They’re stand-alone stories, unrelated to each…
In my usual scattershot approach to blogging, here are a few quick updates. What I’ve been reading lately: Faithful Place by Tana French. A big, messy Irish family has a 22-year-old mystery on their hands. I figured out whodunnit halfway through, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the story. French’s characters are wonderful and she’s a master of dialogue….
Last week I was privileged to be part of a WaterBrook Multnomah authors’ retreat near beautiful Colorado Springs. From left to right, that’s senior marketing manager Amy Haddock, editor Shannon Marchese, and then the authors: me, Mona Hodgson, Lori Benton, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Joanne Bischoff, Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark, and my roomie Katie Ganshert. I had a wonderful time,…