Earlier this week, the group of novelists who I meet with via Zoom for writing sprints got to talking about our various other creative pursuits, beyond writing. I can’t say for sure, but I think there were about 16 or 17 of us in the room that day. Various creative pursuits included: But the one that had many of us asking, “What is that?” was when two of the writers mentioned Zentangle … [Read more...]

Happy Wednesday, friends! I thought it would be a fun mid-week break to play a reader and writer’s game.  It’s a quiz to see which book setting you’d survive best in. Here are the multiple-choice options.  List your answers in the comments section, and I’ll hop on by Friday with the answers for each of you, and everyone who participates will randomly be entered to win a copy of Two … [Read more...]

True confessions, I was not an avid reader of books by English authors when I was in high school. In fact, it wasn’t until after college and because the books had been made into movies that I took a fledgling interest in Pride and Prejudice (1995 mini-series, of course!) and Jane Eyre (the Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester version). My limited knowledge pertaining to the Regency period initially … [Read more...]

One of the things I did on my recent research trip to Saint Simons and Jekyll Islands was visit local grocery stores. Yes, we needed groceries for our camper, but those trips were also pure research. After all, my characters will need groceries and if I write a scene set in a grocery store, I'll need to know what store that would be on this island in the South, what that store looks like on the … [Read more...]

Yesterday, I posted this video to Instagram... The responses that have come in so far have me smiling! Here's Joy at @dareyoutoread on Instagram, proving that her stack of Becky Wade books is substantially larger (and heavier to lift) than my own collection. Here's Mimi at @books.n.blossoms on Instagram depicting the most frequent answer to my, "Can you lift your TBR stack?" … [Read more...]

I read a fascinating article this morning about if and how animals understand death. I've always wondered about it, especially since I've heard so many stories about how animals often seem to understand things we don't. For instance--a group of elephants made a 12 hour trek to visit a dying man who had saved them. And now, years after his death, they continue to visit his home and hold a vigil … [Read more...]