Do you read past book 1? In the last year, I’ve had the privilege of rolling out the start of two different series, Avenue of Dreams and Valley of Choice. Ten months from now, both series will be complete. Out there. Out of my hands. Up to the readers to judge. The two series don’t [...]
Is your kitchen one of those compact, efficient spaces where you can stand in one place and reach everything? Or does it sprawl and attract guests and family for long hang-out sessions? While writing the Avenue of Dreams series, I spent a lot of time imagining what the kitchen in the Banning household had to [...]
Photographs transport me. They just do. Even a photograph of myself at a (much) younger age takes me back and I remember details I haven’t thought of in years. Decades, even. The way the metal cover on the radiator in our dining room warmed me as I sprawled on it while waiting my morning turn [...]
Five! The answer is five more days until the official release of The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow. But she’s already turning up in mailboxes and bookstore shelves. If you’ve seen it, let me know! If you’ve read it, let me know! I’d love to have you share these days around the release of a new [...]
Two weeks ago I got one advance copy of The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow. Last week I got my box of author copies. It’s a fun moment. I’ve had this wondrous experience first with The Pursuit of Lucy Banning and then with Accidentally Amish. And now this latest book. Thrilling, I tell you. Thrilling. But [...]
Believe me, I was ecstatic when I first saw the cover of The Pursuit of Lucy Banning. Even before that, when the art director at my publisher sent me a photo of the dress they proposed to to put on Lucy. Gorgeous. I cannot tell you how many remarks I’ve heard about that dress! Everybody [...]
I get an F in reading. You probably do too. I read lots of books. And blogs. And magazines. And online articles. (Newspapers, not so much.) And I get an F. We’ve turned into a culture of scanners. We might read the first two or three lines of a piece of writing. After that, we [...]
Today begins a summer Wednesday series from writers I’ve had the privilege of meeting in cyberland. Nine writers will tell us what no longer scares them (but must have at one time). Welcome Erin McPherson, author of The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby. She has several more books in the works. When I [...]
I like to tell people the titles of my new books. I just don’t always know the titles. Here’s how it goes. A writer pulls her hair out trying to come up with a zinger of a title that will grab an agent or editor’s attention. Then you sell the project—which may or may not [...]
Over the winter I had a short-term job. I signed on for seven months with an organization producing textbooks. The project was mid-stream, and the commitment was just until the books went to press. I’ve been away for a couple of months now. Last week the printed books arrived, and I went in to the [...]
