Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

Join us for Fun and Prizes!

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Are you a member of Inspirational Regency Readers? If not, I personally invite you to join me there along with sister-authors Erica Vetsch, Michelle Griep, and several others. It’s a private Facebook group for people who share a love of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and other clean or inspirational Regency romances. We talk about favorite adaptations and actors, places we long to travel, and our … [Read more...]

Little Free Libraries

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Ken and I just got home last night from a five-week trip to Texas (also camping in Arkansas and New Mexico) and on one of our last nights camping, we came across a Little Free Library. Are you familiar with these charming little mini-libraries? The collage below shows just some of the Little Free Libraries Ken and I have come across on our travels across the country, and in our own hometowns when … [Read more...]

Research Decisions

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I’ve got a May deadline for a novel about the queen of Sheba. I don’t have an approved title yet from the publisher or I would share it. The last time I used a biblical setting, it was in Jesus’s day and the four Gospels were my main research resources. I had plenty of manners and customs books and foods of the Bible books, etc., but the Gospels were where I lived for the duration. Four … [Read more...]

Spring Game & Giveaway

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I'm a Word Nerd, and as such, I love playing word games. Words with Friends, Boggle with Friends, UpWords, Taboo, Scattegories, Bananagrams, Scrabble. I even keep a crossword puzzle by my place at the table, so I always have some word fun to work on. So for our Game Day today, I thought we could stretch our Word Nerd muscles and with some acrostics. To play, create a poem or sentence where … [Read more...]

Details of the Past

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I know this makes me sound like an old lady, but lately I’ve been realizing how many things have fundamentally changed over my 50-odd years on this earth. Although I truly think my interest is not nostalgia but history.  Case in point. I went to the dentist last week. I sat in that chair as the hygienist cleaned my teeth, spraying water in my mouth then vacuuming it out again. And I … [Read more...]

WOW Book Club from Morris, AL is (was) in the house!

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Last week, I had the absolute JOY of meeting with the WOW (Women of the Word) Book Club from Enon Baptist in Morris, Alabama on location at Carnton in Franklin, which is the setting of all my Carnton novels. Barbara Wiginton, their fearless and fabulous leader, reached out and asked if I could meet them for a brief visit after they toured Carnton, and I'm thrilled that our schedules … [Read more...]

Love Books? You’d love a book club!

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In 1992, we moved into a house in a small development--only 44 houses total, if memory serves. I wanted to invest in my neighbor's lives, so I made up some flyers and walked around the neighborhood, leaving one on each neighbor's porch. "Come join the book club," it said. "We'll read SNOW IN AUGUST." (A wonderful book I doubted anyone else had read.) That night, I made some cookies and coffee … [Read more...]

When Did You Discover Your Love of Reading?

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I recently asked, "How old were you when you discovered your love of reading?" on my Facebook author page. I found the answers fascinating and heartwarming! For this post, I'm hitting on the themes I saw repeated again and again. First Grade This was the most common answer! For numerous women, learning to read went hand in hand with loving to read. "I learned to read in first grade. I … [Read more...]

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