It's November already! The weather here in Texas is so nice and warm. I left the mountains of north-central Washington State just in time. This is a little random, but my daughter, Kristel, and I went into the dairy goat business together. I have thr...

One of our Andi fans, Ella P., has started her own business of hand-made (and very pretty) items. She asked if I’d give her a little shout out, and after looking over her site, I am delighted to do so! Here’s a quick introduction from Ella, and then...

Sarah Miller is the lucky winner of Rebekah’s book, The Challenge Begins. Congrats, Sarah. Rebekah will contact you about getting your mailing address. The rest of you can get a copy of her book here > She offers her book as a print copy and as a...

It's been in my mind for over a year now, but I wanted to write a new series about Andi Carter's good friend, Jenny Grant. But I just never got around to it. Well, this summer, I suddenly felt "ready to go." I wrote three chapters the beginning of Ju...

Read other favorites in Our Favorite Things category 20. Our Favorite Seasons October 1882 Note: Thanks to “anonymous” in the first comment from the Highlighting the Past – October post a couple of weeks ago for this suggestion: Favorite Seasons. Mel...

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHT: “OUR FAVORITE THINGS” CATEGORY The blog category, Our Favorite Things, highlights all of Andi’s and Melinda’s (and sometimes Kate’s) favorite things. I dug back four years to find this one: OUR BROTHERS. Which is Andi’s favorite br...

Newsletter Update and RefreshSo, I decided to combine the Circle C and Goldtown newsletters into one list. When I combined them, I was super surprised that--except for a handful of subscribers--most of you were already subscribed to both lists. Now i...

Out of 185 responses/guesses (a record!) 167 guessed correctly. Random.org chose #161, Kelly VanDemark, as the winner, the prize chosen was the gold and fool’s gold. Kelly has 48 hours (from last night) to claim her prize. The mystery object is a BLU...

Good news first, friends. Drum roll. My publisher, Kregel, is contracting me for Book One, Trouble in Tacoma as well as Book Two [unnamed at this point]. I finished book one so I will be able to send the ms in by February 2026. Bad news: They do stuf...

My publisher had their acquistions meeting yesterday, but I haven’t heard a thing! I did have good news about Christian Book. The Goldtown Adventures series–for the first time ever–was selected to go in their Christmas Fiction 2025 print catalog. Wit...

SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHT: “ANDI’s JOURNAL” CATEGORY The blog category, “Andi’s Journal,” highlights all kinds of happenings from Andi’s life both when she is young and after she is married to Riley. I dug deep (about four years ago, when I first moved thi...

Okay, so here’s the thing about radio interviews: they scare me half to death. At least, they used to. Case in point: Time travel 15 years in the past to November 2010. Back in the day, my publisher, Kregel Publications, had a publicist. This person’...

More Alphabet Characters > Melinda! I bet you would not have thought that — in a pinch — Melinda Jane Carter could trade her dancing slippers in for a split skirt and a lasso. She’s not very good with the lasso, but she was there for her little si...