I've made a happy reading discovery. His name is William O. Steele  (1917-1979). He was the award-winning author of historical fiction for children written in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Particularly fiction set on the 18th century frontier of Tennessee. That's why I've...

Something unexpected happened today while I was doing some final research reading for my current novel in progress, set in the Tennessee Valley in 1787. In an effort to plot out the last few chapters of the story, while pouring over several reference books, I ran...

August 1st was also the release date of my friend, author Kaye Dacus's, third book in the Regency era Ransome Trilogy. Ransome's Quest continues the story where Ransome's Crossing left off, and I for one will be very glad to get my hands on this long awaited (well, it...

I could not let another day go by without posting that my friend and fellow author Laura Frantz's third Kentucky frontier novel, The Colonel's Lady, had it's nationwide release yesterday, August 1. I was honored and privileged to read this book as her critique partner...

I was going to tack this little post script onto my last post, then decided it was well worth its own. I don't know if I've ever given a review of a book I've yet to finish reading, but this time I can't really hold back. I'm several chapters into Chris Fabry's Almost...

It's summer. It's hot. My brain is not at its best just now. I'm focusing on the messy middle of my novel in progress, and since this seems to be demanding more than usual brain capacity, I've decided to take a summer break from blogging. Sort of. I'll still be here,...

I was thinking this morning about writing a post acknowledging the fact that things have seemed to move very slowly for me during the past year+ since I've had my wonderful agent, Wendy, shopping two of my novels around to publishers. No slower than they were moving...

My writing journey has been a long one. Most who know me know that. There have been times I've felt very close to being published, times I felt light years from any such thing. Times when writing was a joy, times when it was utter frustration. Times when I...

If you stop me on the street and ask me what a frizzen is, I can tell you.For the past two days I've been working on a scene in which a character of the 18th century who has never fired a gun before needs to learn to fire a flintlock pistol (not a rifle; those things...

Well, technically I don't write Colonial American fiction, but I do write fiction set in the late 18th century, which is pretty close. And if these nudgings and whisperings from characters in the wings mean what I think they mean, after my current work in progress is...