Happy first weekend in spring! The weather is perfect in north Louisiana--80 degrees, windy, pollen, dogwood, azaleas. And I love sitting outside writing and reading. I know not all parts of the states have the same weather--perhaps it is on its way. As I write in my...

Have you ever taken a staycation instead of a vacation? Well, I just finished a five-day staycation during my spring break from teaching school. Usually, my husband and I take a week and go somewhere fun, such as last year to Charleston, South Carolina. Many of my...

In my reading of fiction, I often run across reading material that the characters reference, quote, or use for entertainment. After all, before television and the computer, many hours were spent with an open book, newspaper, or magazine as well as letters of...

Saturday, I felt like I stepped into a Hallmark movie at my town's Jonquil Jubilee Festival. It had all the elements of a wholesome, family-centered movie or story. The annual event brings vendors, tourists, and locals together to shop, eat, visit, roam, and learn. Of...

Do you keep a journal? Oh, I do. I have kept a diary or journal since the fifth grade when my teacher in England encouraged his students to journal. I loved the idea and latched onto it with a relentless grip. My sisters wish I would desist especially when I write...

Do you like to read historical fiction? I learn so much from a good novel that is well-researched. I didn't realize, until I started my novels, how much time went into research before the first words are written in a novel. Now I know. All the tidbits of information...