Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

Merry, blessed Christmas

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By now, no doubt, it's looking Christmas-y at your house or in your town. With just a few hours left for last-minute shopping and baking and decorating, if you're not ready now, well, somehow it always seems to work out. And if there are only 11 dozen cookies on the dessert table instead of your usual 15 dozen, nobody will likely complain. :) Our kids don't start arriving until Dec. 27, but … [Read more...]

Getting Crafty at Christmas

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One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to decorate the family tree. It's no magazine showpiece. It's a walk down memory lane. Photo ornaments from when my kids were babies. Ornaments they made in school. Ornaments we made together at home. The handmade ornaments are always my favorite. As an avid cross-stitcher, I love to make ornaments as gifts for others. My publishing team has been … [Read more...]

Belmont Mansion Transformations

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Are you a fan of Fixer Upper? Home Town? Then I have a home transformation I'd love to share with you! I posted a few weeks back about the restoration of the grand salon floor at Nashville's historic Belmont Mansion—the setting of my Belmont Mansion novels. Here's a shot of the grand salon floor as they were just about to start the project. They gave us a glimpse of the floor at that … [Read more...]

Instagram LOVE

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I love Instagram. I'm not a huge poster (I'm working to do better). But I love to scroll and get glimpses into people's lives—and into who they are. What someone posts says a lot about a person. This is by no means an exhaustive list. But maybe you'll "click" with one of these people, too, and choose to follow them. So without further adieu... So what … [Read more...]

Here Comes the Sun

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I’m not a morning person. Not. At. All. My husband is. For the first 20 or so years of our marriage, he thought if I just kept getting up early (as you have to do with babies, then school-aged children), it would become a habit. It hasn’t. He finally understands that there are some rhythms that are simply programed in our DNA. All that to say I’m not sure I’ve ever seen (or at least … [Read more...]

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