Random Natterings
We Don’t Need Columbus to Have a Holiday
My first memory of American Indians came when I was about four years old, and living in Cody, Wyoming. It was during the Korean War, and my dad was on assignment in Thailand. Dad was part of a US Navy squadron that took a load of planes to Thailand and taught the pilots there how…
Check Your Drawers
It’s a writerly joke that we novelists usually have an unpublished manuscript stuck in a drawer. You know, something that we finished, and there it stayed, for whatever reason. I had two such manuscripts. The first one was The Necklace, which I massively rewrote and which came out in February, 2021. My editor, Jennifer McCord,…
Doing Anything?
Not a whole lot vexes me. I’m relatively even-tempered. So it is with mixed emotions – amusement and slight irritation (as in, don’t you know me by now?) – that I offer what is probably a common challenge most novelists face. It’s this: Friends and acquaintances often open a conversation with me by asking, “Are…
The Lions’ Den
It’s no secret that I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon, if you prefer. This particular blog is for fun, not preaching. Recently, I was wasting time on Facebook, looking at a website inviting people to list funny experiences in church. I have a dilly. It happened…
“Hey, Lady, What’s Your Favorite Book?”
Could it be that last month’s school and college graduations brought out the nostalgia in me? Whatever the reason, I’ll indulge in a reminiscence. I suspect that the most common question novelists get is, “Where do you get your ideas?” Correct me if I’m wrong, fellow novelists, but I believe the usual answer is a…
Interviewing History
I had quite an experience recently, the sort of thing that sometimes happens to a historian, but never often enough: I talked to an eyewitness to history. I’m currently researching/writing Story #2 of a 3-novella anthology set during World War II. I’m calling the book, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” after the 1938 love song that…
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