Random Natterings
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It’s a writerly joke that we novelists usually have an unpublished manuscript stuck in a drawer.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…
Something Familiar in Unfamiliar Times
Think what you will, but during the pandemic, I did something that brought me a lot of comfort: I reread many of my novels. Through the years, I’ve reread a few of my own personal favorites. At times, I’ve been asked to speak about a particular book, which means rereading at least parts of one…
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