Falling Down the Research Hole APR 22, 2024 With all historical fiction and really most writing, you have to research. On my current manuscript, I’ve researched extensively. I had to find out much about World War II, life in the 1940’s, when transistor radios were invented and what ‘revenuers’ drove. It’s a good thing, because I want my reader to drop into that story and feel like they are living it. My short story in the upcoming anthology, Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women, came about due to an article in my local paper about a military base on Topsail Island. I grew up in North Carolina and I’d never heard…
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Are you part of a book club? Do you like to read books? Can you commit to reading at least one book a month? Those are some of the things you need to consider before joining a book club. Although, most book clubs meet once a month, some meet less often. Some pick their books for the whole year at one time and some pick one month ahead. Some read only fiction, some read only non-fiction. What sounds good to you? That’s what you must decide. Size is important, too. Do you want an intimate small group, a medium size group with a chance for discussion, or a large group…
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by Harriet Cannon Lizbeth Gordon’s husband doesn’t come home one day. He dies in a one-car auto accident. That’s not the shocking part. He had a hidden gambling addiction and accumulated a large pile of debt. At least it was hidden from Lizbeth. She’s left with only answers and empty banking accounts, so she put the family home up for sell, helped her two sons return to college, and headed for the family cottage on Folly Island, SC. She needed a quiet place. This started Lizbeth’s search for healing and understanding that leads her along a winding road ending in the discovery of the long-lost branch of the Gordon family.…
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by Diane Chamberlain I’ve been trying to get to this book for a long time. I love to read Diane Chamberlain’s books. I love how she weaves her stories with details that reveal what’s coming, how she gives you the woman’s point of view, and how she solves her mysteries by the end of the book. I want an ending that satisfies the build-up and boy, does she know how to build a story. Anna Dale, a young artist, was chosen to paint a Post Office mural in 1940 for Edenton, NC. Being from New Jersey, was an obstacle right away for her in this insular Southern town. She didn’t…
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This intense thriller focuses on motherhood, being a mother, being a good mother. As we get to know several generations of mothers, we see what damage one bad soul can do to their children. We read through examples of good mothers who take care other people’s children and bad mothers who can’t mother at all. And then there is a child, Violet. Blythe Connor gives birth to her first child, a daughter she and Fox, her husband, name Violet. As the exhausting days of motherhood overwhelm Blythe, she begins to think there’s something wrong. Something terribly wrong with her child. She prefers the touch of her father almost from the…
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“Anxious People” made my heart hurt; it was that good. It started off with this very unusual premise of a bank robbery gone bad at a bank with no money. I’m like, ok… Then the people started talking and the whole book just came together. One thing I love about Fredrik Backman’s writing is the way he weaves his character’s storylines together – all of a sudden you see these connections that you didn’t know even existed. You think they’re a little bit too quirky at the beginning. I’m like, “No one would do that.” Then before you know it, you love them a little, some more than others. I…
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I have been working through a well-known writing book called, Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Mass. His writing exercise was too hard for me. Three favorite books of all time? That’s an impossible task! I have too many favorite books to choose only three. I tried my best and came up with the three in the picture – The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Three is unrealistic, many others are clamoring to be included in this group. I would also choose A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman along with…
