Welcome to the middle of July (almost). I live smack dab in the middle of the US and it’s been overly hot. The last few days, there’s been a reprieve, so I find myself in my favorite place as I write this—my deck. I haven’t written by the pool—my oth...

I have the great fortune of living in an area with many wonderful writers. I knew Pat Wahler long before reading I am Mrs. Jesse James. We both belong to Saturday Writers in St. Peters, Missouri, an absolutely phenomenal organization for writers of a...

Aspiring writers are often told they should write for the sheer joy of it. I suppose the well-meaning person saying such a thing might do so because publishing is a hard business and not everyone is going to make it big. Perhaps this person is trying...

Most religions have a belief structure surrounding the afterlife. Raised Southern Baptist, my early beliefs of Heaven and Hell, were about where the good and bad people respectively, go after death. When I became an adult and ventured out into the wo...

Today I have with us, Shirley Anderson, a newly published former nun who is an absolute delight. Shirley has lived quite the adventurous life, and shared some of wonderful stories in her memoir, Poverty, Virginity & Love. Jeanne: Shirley, tell us...

One of my long-time critique partners and friends, Diane M. How, has been on a roll, creating the zany sister trio of characters in her The Dahlonega Sisters series. Her newest, Veins of Gold, came out recently and I was able to capture a bit of time...

I recently had the delightful pleasure of editing, formatting, and assisting with the publication of a wonderful book of Biblically-inspired plays by Ken Lee called Voices from the Bible. I decided in the spirit of Thanksgiving to share this with my...

(This article first appeared in 2019 and has been updated.) In 2019, I won an audio copy of Georgia Rose’s Parallel Lies. I really had no idea what to expect, but set my phone to play and dove in. Within the first few pages, I’d become a fan of this...

(This article was originally published in 2019 and has not been updated.) During 2018, I won an autographed copy of This I Know by Eldonna Edwards. On a bright sunny day last summer, I lounged on my deck and dove into the words. Once I began, I could...

(This article was originally published in 2018 and has been updated.) One of my favorite reads last year was Launching Sheep & Other Stories, which is a collection of humorous essays about history from the perspective of everyday life. It was wri...