This past week I had the privilege of reading a non-fiction book by debut author Emily Sara Smucker. The book, The Highway and Me and My Earl Grey Tea, is an account of Emily’s year traveling across the country visiting a different Mennonite community each month. At every stop she experienced something unique, seeking what […]
Travels
Follow the Westward Journey
The second book of the Call of the Frontier series will be available July 1, 2021. It follows the story of my great–great grandfather, Cornelius Joel Hills, as he captained the Hills wagon train of 1851. He had crossed the prairies once on horseback and traveled to the Willamette Valley in Oregon to lay claim […]
- Historical
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Living in a Lean-To
Outside my window rain is falling, a typical December day in Oregon. I think of the story in my newest release, The Descendant’s Daughter, in which I relate part of the tale of my great-great grandfather who settled here in 1847. The first winter he spent a miserable existence. Proving up a land claim to […]
A New Book with an Old Story
The release of my newest novel, The Descendant’s Daughter, is now waiting on the horizon. While a contemporary story line carries the book, I get excited thinking about the historical theme that originated from my own personal family history. I consider the opportunity to share a fictional re-creation of my great-great-grandfather’s tale a privilege. I […]
- General
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Roll Out the Barrel. . . and a new book
My new book, The Descendant’s Daughter, entered the editing phase this week. I also worked with the cover designer to create the book’s cover. Release day is coming soon. I feel like I’ve stepped onto the fast track. This is a new genre for me. The contemporary story is laced with romance, as is the […]
A New Book is Coming
This week I signed a contract for a new time slip series with Forget Me Not Romances, a division of Winged Publications, based in Arizona. The first book in the series, The Descendant’s Daughter, is already in production and scheduled to release soon. This is a fictional story with two timelines, one contemporary tale that […]
When Heaven Gained A Hero
I’ve written about my neighbor before. He’s the man who lived across the street. The man who raised a garden big enough to feed a city block. The man who fought in WWII and received several medals and a commendation from President Roosevelt. That last part I didn’t know until his ninetieth birthday party. I […]
- Historical
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Book Pick #3- Author Karen Barnett
With summer winding down and fall gearing up its transition, you and your family would do well to spend some time at a national park before inclement weather and colder temperatures threaten to make the trip less appealing. The National Park Service is now one hundred years old and is considered one of our nation’s […]
After A Conference
This week I had the privilege of attending the Oregon Christian Writers conference at the Jantzen Beach Red Lion in Portland, Oregon. Featured speakers included Brian Bird who writes screenplays for the popular Hallmark Sunday night movie, When Calls the Heart and Francine Rivers, who is a best-selling, multi-published […]
- Faith Matters
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A Blip on the Radar
Discouragement colored my husband’s face as he came through the door and dropped the car keys on the hall tree. “I just had a fender bender.” Shocked, I asked the obvious. “Are you all right?” Nothing like this had happened in our forty-three years of marriage. But he’d had a rough Thanksgiving week. His only […]