When I was ten, my grandparents retired to a piece of property in Camino, California—off of Apple Hill drive near Placerville. Before this move, they lived in the Bay Area where Grandpa tended to his small lawn and rose bushes with the such meticulous care, he earned a reputation in his neighborhood. So it was no surprise that when they …
This past weekend, my husband and I went up to South Lake Tahoe to celebrate our anniversary and did something we’ve never done before—attended a magic show. More specifically,Alex Ramon’s Illusion Fusion at the Horizon Casino. I’ve never been a fan of magic shows, but friends of ours saw this one last month and raved about it. Illusionist Alex Ramon …
Often, while writing, I’ll click onto the Internet to look up something whether it’s information on a town my character’s visiting, Bible scripture or (gasp) the correct spelling of a word that my pesky spell-checker underlines in red. My Internet default page is set to Yahoo!, so I’m often captured by one of their headlines. There I go, down a …
Do you ever feel the need to challenge yourself? I think it’s pretty easy to rest in comfort. I tend to lean toward complacency—I call it my lazy bone—and have to push through my personal plateaus. This can be with anything from Bible study to cooking. Comfort is easy because it takes no effort and I can coast. And if …
When Chris and I prepare to plant our summer garden, we go down to the local nursery and pick up the basics: Tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant and basil. Often, we try something a little different—this year is was spaghetti squash and green beans by seed. We’re never quite sure how things will turn out. We can control only so …
I was a guest blogger on ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writer’s) website last Friday. I thought I would share the same article with my blog readers here on my website. Hope you enjoy. I lack imagination. A bold confession for a writer, wouldn’t you say? It’s true. That’s why I don’t do fantasy—don’t write it, read it, or watch it. …
Strange how it sometimes takes a new perspective to see God’s creation and power. And it’s not that I live in a big city where plant and animal life is sparse. Maybe I take it all for granted because I see it every day. I have to make a concentrated effort at times to stop and smell the roses—literally! But …
But then God bestowed a sweet blessing upon us. An unexpected pit stop (after three days in Savannah and a quick stop in Charleston) in a quaint town called St. Augustine, Florida. After our quick retreat from Panama City (and we’ll never go back) we weren’t expecting our halfway-to-St. Petersburg destination to be so great.Since my last post, we’ve experienced: …
As you can see from the photo, I’m a little off balance lately! On vacation, and so far we’ve experienced: Great hospitality from friend Joanne Kraft & family A day and a half with my sweet daughter, Nicole Franklin Museum & Home Tour Ryman Auditorium Tour Country Music Hall of Fame Tour Laura Plantation Oak Alley Walking the French …
There are two types of writers: Planners and SOTP (Seat Of The Pants-ers). A planner does exactly that—plans. An SOTP may generally have an idea of where she wants the story to go, maybe knows her main character well or the setting, but allows creative license to “write” the story for her. I’m sure there are varying degrees of the …
