It’s been in the news but you may have missed it during the busy Christmas season. Archaeologists digging near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount have found a stamped clay seal that once belonged to the biblical King Hezekiah. As my readers know, I “wrote the book” on King Hezekiah—three books, in fact, and two more on his son King Manasseh. I used stories from the Old Testament along with my own research … [Read more...]

For many years now, my book deadline has been January 15. That means I’m always racing to finish my novel during the holidays. With three children and a musician-husband whose busiest season is also Christmas, I decided several years ago to stop trying to produce a perfect “Hallmark” holiday. I sat everyone down and asked which traditions were most important to them, and together we came up with a … [Read more...]

Life has its calm seasons and busy seasons, times when I can work at my leisure and actually enjoy what I do, and times when I’m forced to labor long into the night, fretting and worrying and racing to finish on time. Right now I’m in one of those crunch times. That’s because I’m within a few pages of finishing my newest novel and typing “The End.” By now I know my characters and my plot very … [Read more...]

It’s a tradition in our family to invite people who are alone on Thanksgiving to our family feast. The origins of our hospitality go back to when Ken and I were first married... Ken was a graduate student and we lived in Connecticut at the time. After classes on Wednesday afternoon we packed the car and set off for my grandmother’s house in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. The rest of my … [Read more...]