Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

Having Olympic-Size Dreams (Plus a Giveaway!)

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One thing that I’ve really loved about watching the 2016 Olympics is hearing all of the personal stories behind the contestants. In many cases, the parents had a huge influence the athlete’s success. While I’m definitely not an Olympic athlete, I’ve always told myself, “If I want to accomplish something, then I’ll do what it takes to make that happen.”  In fact, in all my years of writing, I … [Read more...]

The Good Old Days – Teacher Requirements

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Last Friday I moved my daughter into the dorm. She has a week of freshmen activities to help her make friends and  familiarize her with the campus before school starts on Monday. With classes coming soon, I was reminded of an email I received a while back from a student who was working on a research paper about teacher certification exams. In her online exploration, she ran across a blog post I … [Read more...]

Birds and Words–my literary guest room

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We moved recently from a downsized townhome to a one level house. This meant we needed some new furniture. We've filled up the den and turned a little den off the back of the house into a combination sunroom/library. We had enough to decorate one guest room in a beach theme but the other one sat empty for a while. Since it's located across from our offices (My husband took another bedroom for his … [Read more...]

A Luncheon at Belmont Mansion

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Yesterday, I had the pure pleasure of meeting a bookclub at Belmont Mansion (the setting of my Belmont Mansion novels) for a delicious luncheon, wonderful sharing time, and then a tour of the mansion. I never tire of being in Adelicia Acklen's beautiful home. Pay no attention to that woman in the background flashing us. Those Victorians and their naked statues… Sheesh!   A … [Read more...]

Giving Back

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This week I have the privilege of coaching a group of writers at the Oregon Christian Writers’ Coaching Conference in Portland. I’m flying there today, in fact. This wonderful event offers writers a chance to meet with editors, authors, publishers and literary agents during the four-day conference. I’m really looking forward to being part of it! Ever since I was asked to speak to writers for the … [Read more...]

How do I love thee, Olympics? Let me count the ways.

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I'm an Olmypics-aholic. Every few years, when the Olympics roll around, my enthusiasm for the games inevitably outpaces my husband's.  He'll pad off, shaking his head, searching for a saner room of the house to retreat to while I attempt to watch every hour of evening Olympic coverage plus as much as I can squeeze in on the weekends and via the Today Show in the mornings. My first Olympic … [Read more...]

Escape to Italy

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This summer our family had the adventure of a lifetime. We got to explore Italy for a month while I taught in a study abroad program. It was an absolute delight and dream come true. I realized I hadn't shared many photos with y'all yet, so here goes. We lived in Siena for a month with day trips to Florence and Pisa. We also spent three days in Rome. It was a whirlwind, but a dream come true … [Read more...]

Robin is Going Back to School – Part 5

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It's almost here! I go back to school the week of August 22nd. The deadline for finishing the revisions of my next book, You'll Think of Me, is the 19th, so good timing on that! Anyway, regular readers of this blog may be sick of my semi-annual "back to college" posts. You'll all be glad when I graduate. Right? And when will that be? you ask. Lots longer than I would wish because my writing … [Read more...]

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