I love book clubs! I joined my first one nearly twenty years ago, and it was such fun to read new books that other members had chosen, especially when their reading tastes differed from mine. I loved hearing the variety of opinions on our monthly selections and discovering themes or insights that I had completely missed. Several books were ones I never would have chosen on my own, but I was glad I … [Read more...]

I recently participated in two online conferences—the Beau Monde conference (for Regency-era writers) and this past weekend I was on faculty with the Northwestern Christian Writers Conference. I have been involved with NCWC over the last few years when the conference was held in-person near me in St. Paul, Minnesota. This year, as with a lot of things, most conferences are either being canceled or … [Read more...]

We celebrated our one-year anniversary of moving to Missouri last week. It seems like just yesterday that we were saying tearful goodbyes to our family and friends in Kansas and packing up all our earthly belongings and making the eight-hour trip to Southeast Missouri. What a year it's been! (For sure, we didn't foresee a pandemic in our future!) We sold our house to friends, a pastor's … [Read more...]

I've always loved reading books that are part of a series. Because of that, for years, I dreamed of trying my hand at writing a series. With my Porter Family books, I got my wish! I discovered two things about series... #1) They're tricky because I have to juggle a large cast of characters who will star in future books or have already starred in past books. I strive to bring those characters … [Read more...]