Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

HUGE Release Day Celebration Giveaway (30+ prizes)

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To Wager Her Heart, the third and final Belle Meade Plantation novel, hit the shelves last Tuesday—the same time the huge release day celebration giveaway with over 30 prizes went live! Have you entered the giveaway yet?  ENTER TO WIN   Prizes include . . . U.S. Mailing addresses only due to postage costs   And there's also the regular monthly giveaway for August for … [Read more...]

Starting Our 44th Year

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It doesn't seem possible, but my husband and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary this past weekend. Four decades, four wonderful children, and now four years in our new city of Wichita. Ken surprised me with a fun date night that showed off much of the best this town has to offer. We drove downtown and parked at the beautiful Century II concert hall and convention center, then caught the … [Read more...]

The Things a Writer Never Wants to Hear

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For the past few days, I've been racking my brain for a blog topic and drawing a BLANK.  So I asked two of my heroic writer friends, Courtney Walsh and Katie Gansert, for help.  Katie came up with the idea for this post and the three of us compiled the below list together.  Please keep in mind that we love writing and publishing and that we were laughing and only wincing a little when we … [Read more...]

Words You Don’t Want to Hear from the Eye Surgeon…

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"I won't lie. You'll be in a lot of pain & discomfort for the first week." Oh goody. Next week, I'm having surgery to remove a nodule that is growing on my eye, fast approaching the cornea where it could do permanent damage to my eyesight. The first week sounds like it will be quite unpleasant. After that, the full recovery of my sight in that eye can take up to three months. The surgeon … [Read more...]

The Jane Austen Festival: Looking Forward, Looking Back

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In a previous post, I mentioned that my husband and I had the pleasure of attending the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England last September. Before the costumed promenade, we met Jane Hope who was there photographing the event. A few months later, the Associate Editor of Victoria magazine, Melissa Lester, emailed me to let me know she'd recognized me in Jane's photographs and asked to interview … [Read more...]

Catching the Wind

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Every spring the youth group at our church holds a banquet where they auction off an assortment of great prizes to fund their summer mission trips. I bought a ticket for a chance to win a sailboat excursion on Lake Michigan. I’ve never sailed before, but I love to sit on our beach and watch the sailboats gliding gracefully across the lake, their white sails billowing. It looks like such a calm, … [Read more...]

Do Writers Get Better the Longer They Write?

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“The more you do something, the better you get at it.” We’ve probably all heard that at one time or another. But is it really true? Especially when it comes to writing? Can we honestly say that the more an author writes, the better they’ll get? I’d like to believe that the longer I write and the more books I have under my belt, the better I’ll get. But is it true? Recently, I read a … [Read more...]

They Grow So Fast

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This past week I was blessed with the opportunity to spend time with two of my families: a portion of my writing family while I attended the Romance Writers of America conference and my immediate family, including a husband and three teenage children that are growing up far too fast. The conference was wonderful! I picked up some great marketing tips (my mind is spinning with new ideas I hope … [Read more...]

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