Every now and then I have the opportunity to get away from my desk and travel somewhere to speak. For months I had been looking forward to a Ladies’ Brunch at a church in St. Louis, Missouri. Flying there the day before, I arrived at O’Hare Airport in Chicago at 8:30 AM and checked the board for my gate number. FLIGHT CANCELLED What! I skimmed down the roster and saw that nearly every flight was … [Read more...]
Fun at the Fair(s)
You know summer is over and fall has arrived when it’s time for the county fair. I used to go to the Orange County Fair in NY State back in my youth, and I remember the livestock displays (and the aroma!); the games of chance where you could win a giant Teddy bear; the junk-food booths that sold corn dogs and funnel cakes and cotton candy. My favorite attractions were the carnival rides that … [Read more...]
Hot Off the Press
There’s nothing quite like opening that first box of books, hot off the press. Keepers of the Covenant may be book #22 for me but I still feel a thrill of accomplishment each time I see my novel for the first time. Back in 1995 when my very first novel, The Lord is My Strength, arrived in the mail, I carried it everywhere with me for two or three days. I even laid it on my bedside table at night … [Read more...]
Into the Past
A huge part of a writer’s job is to create word pictures. We try to describe a room or a house or a village in such vivid detail that readers can see them, too. We transport you there, so you can smell the dirty socks in the bedroom or the aroma of bread baking inside the house; you’re tempted to sneeze as you inhale the dirt on the dusty village street. Whenever I research a story I take plenty … [Read more...]
Cheerful Hearts
Maybe it’s a small town phenomenon. Maybe it only happens in this small town. I don’t know, but my husband and I noticed the difference almost immediately after we moved here three months ago from the Chicago suburbs. The friendliness. The smiles. The way people take time to stop and chat to strangers like us. It began with the morning walks we take every day. The path that goes past our house to … [Read more...]