Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

What I Discovered in this Writing Season

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By the time you read this, I’ll be close to submitting the final edits of my final book in the Guideposts series Secrets from Grandma’s Attic. As I’m wrapping up this chapter (ha!) of my writing career, I’ve been looking back over the entire experience. The unexpected season has been instrumental in teaching me a few things about myself and my writing, so I thought I’d share those with you.  I … [Read more...]

The Story Behind the Story

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In April I have a novella releasing in a new collection Across the Shores. But the germ of this story came to me years ago. I was trying to find the original proposal idea and I'm going to guess it was about 2011 or 2012. I'd written two series of WWII novels for Barbour -- Cornhusker Dreams set in Nebraska and the Ohio Brides set in Ohio. Stars in the Night was about to release, and Shadowed by … [Read more...]

Talking to My Friends

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The last two weeks I've been chatting with many of my writing friends as I've been recording new episodes of Book Talk. It has been such fun! Two weeks ago I chatted with Kristy Cambron and Jill Eileen Smith. Last week it was Lisa Phillips and her team of authors as well as Mary Connealy. And this week I had a blast connecting with Melanie Dobson, J'Nell Ciesielski, Lynn Blackburn, Lynnette Eason … [Read more...]

Goals, Intentions, and Expectations

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Here we stand at the beginning of a new year. And for so many of us, our minds turn to yearly goals. I’ve been thinking a lot about that these past couple of weeks. A few years ago I shifted toward “intentions” instead of “goals.” It helped me be less stressed when life interfered and made my goals if not impossible, at least much more difficult.  But this year, I’ve been reevaluating that a … [Read more...]

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