Since 1999, The Christy Awards™ have honored Christian novels of excellence, imagination, and creativity. The Christy Award™ is designed to nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview and showcase the diversity of genres. The Award is named for Catherine Marshall’s enduring bestselling novel, Christy, published in 1967. When I …
Nashville Reader~Writer Breakfast!
Excited to be in Nashville for THE ART OF WRITING CONFERENCE and CHRISTY AWARD GALA. To kick off that memorable Wednesday, we’re having a reader writer breakfast! Author Becky Wade says it best: Join me, Laura Frantz, Jolina Petersheim, Bethany Turner (and hopefully a few other Christian fiction authors) for breakfast and/or coffee! I’ll be traveling to Nashville in early …
Works that will outlast us…
If you’re looking to add to your reading list, have a look at the Christy finalists for 2018. This award is associated with Catherine Marshall and her classic Christy set in my beloved Appalachian mountains. This particular novel inspired me and my writing in ways I can’t name as well as her other nonfiction books on faith. I was a …
Best Banana Bread
I don’t know about you but of all the delicious quick breads out there, banana is still my favorite. Here’s a whole grain winner of a recipe that has an interesting twist over traditional banana bread – cinnamon. Hope you enjoy it on those crisp fall mornings when you savor a slice with a cup of coffee or tea! BATTER …
Fashion Fridays
If you’ve read my novels you know how much I enjoy dressing those heroines! But my interest and admiration with fashion extends beyond the 18th-century. I’d love to have you join me each Friday as I post images of gowns from various centuries in private & museum collections around the world. Exquisite history, indeed! Fashion Friday
A Most Romantic Verse
I love a good love story. And the Bible has some beautiful ones. Recently I stumbled across this verse and don’t ever recall reading it before, at least not in the current version I’m attached to. The Amplified Bible is so rich and layered. Being a word lover, the more words the better. Being a romance writer, the more romantic …
A Company of Heroes
Everybody loves a hero, be it in books, films, or real life. America was built on the bones of great heroes like Boone and Washington, Lee and Lincoln, to name just a few. Historical authors have a wealth of inspiration to draw from and I’m so grateful! Readers often ask about the inspiration behind my heroes. How I find names. …
Pages and pages
So the pages came today, that last version of the book prior to print. The next step is holding the actual novel in hand. For now, I have 407 pages to peruse. I open the envelopes that have been Fedexed overnight and put all the pages together. And because I’d rather be playing in my sunny garden like Lark in …
Summertime
Colorful clothespins. Line-dried sheets. Warm porch planks. Cold Coke. Strings of party lights. Red geraniums. A barrel of blooming lavender. New potatoes and peas. Garden to table. Birdsong mornings. Warm wind. Open windows. Cherry tomatoes. Wildflowers. Wild blackberries right outside your door. Good books. The Good Book. Sunsets. Letter writing. Long walks. Creek music. Children’s voices carrying through the trees. …
KSDAR Reading List
It’s such an honor to find The Lacemaker on the current KSDAR list among so many fine books. I see quite a few here that I’ve read and others new to me that I’m adding to my stack! As a member of the DAR, specifically the Berea-Laurel Ridges Chapter, I’m especially blessed. Heartfelt thanks to those who compiled the list …