Writers often debate the merits (and demerits) of prologue and epilogue—the figurative bookends of a story. Why? Many readers find them distracting, misleading, disconnected, and unnecessary. I’ll confess I just finished a book which I otherwise enjoyed, but whose prologue (written from the villain’s point of view) I completely forgot until I reached the epilogue….
Would you believe I searched my house high and low for two Anne of Green Gables tins I have? I acquired them some years ago on a foray to Prince Edward Island on the trail of Lucy Maud Montgomery, but failed to find even one for a photo this week. However, I did come up…
Do you remember Anne Shirley of Green Gables fame? If, like me, you’re a lifelong fan of the feisty redhead, you’ll also recall that she lived in a cottage called Patty’s Place during her college days and boarded at Windy Poplars while doing battle with the Pringles as a high school principal in Summerside, PEI….
It’s that time of year again when we do what used to be called making New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, I like to review the past year and reflect on what was accomplished, usually with gratitude. And especially it’s the time when I look back on my book list and share with you my favorite reads…
Once upon a time, a woman loved jellybeans almost as much as she loved bacon. Her husband, desiring to please her, returned from a trip to the Land of Milk and Honey with a gigantic jar of Jelly Bellies. She tried to make them last a long time by nibbling on only a few each…
On a recent road trip across the Andes and the Argentine pampas, we brought back several kilos of yerba mate, an herbal tea commonly served in most of the southern cone of South America. A few months ago, I promised another post about my collection of tea tins. Like the “tea rites” of mate, many…
Lists are fun, aren’t they? Several of my fellow bloggers have recently shared their top reads of 2023, so I thought it was high time for my (more or less) annual list of favorite books too. Usually, it’s a challenge to choose just a few favs out of 100 (+/- again) books read over the…
It’s over for another year. Not the search, but National Novel Writing Month. I’m able to say now that I’m a three-time “winner” of NaNoWriMo, although I’m not sure what that means to anyone, even including myself. But writing 50,000 words in The Search for Rose Michaud at least started me on the path to…
Did you miss me? I’ve been living in the land of Overwhelm the last few months and need to get back on track, whatever that is. How I long to be able to snuggle into the sweet spot of Just Enough—of time and resources, rest, play, and work. My husband and I’ve been out straight…
I just returned from a walk on our local beach here in Totoralillo, rumored to be the best in the region. No, I didn’t have a piña colada, but the fruit sundae booths, churro carts, and ceviche shops are already doing booming business. I didn’t wear flip-flops either, because as you may remember, it’s still…
Many authors keep in mind an avatar or ideal future reader while writing their books. Christian writing podcaster Thomas Umstattd, Jr. suggests directing our stories to a real person rather than an imaginary persona. The apostle Paul was writing for Timothy—one person—when he scribbled the biblical epistles of I and II Timothy. Yet millions of…
My husband’s a World War II buff, and I too value the rich legacy bequeathed by that generation of heroes. Sometimes I wonder how the stories and screens of the past century would have looked different had the dramatic and traumatic events of two world wars never happened. Certainly, both Hollywood filmmakers and New York…