History, Real Life and Faith
We’ve just wrapped up a second experience with kids from another country, this time China. My sister-in-law put this one into motion with a phone call: “I’ve got this friend who runs a program called Cultural Homestay International and she needs a home for two Chinese boys. They’re coming with a class of fifteen kids and I’m taking the teacher….
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It began innocently enough, both times, with a phone call–but isn’t that how life changing things often occur? A routine day suddenly explodes into a change that alters your life and rearranges your schedule the very next day. Fortunately, we’re flexible, which is a key component to welcoming foreign exchange students into your house. Three years ago we got Giovanna–a lovely girl…
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I’ve just sent off my most recent novella, An Inconvenient Gamble, to the editor. She’ll read the manuscript, take notes and in a week or two send me suggestions on how to improve it. I like that part of the writing process, the collaboration with someone who learns my story well. The arguing about plot ideas and words invigorates and often makes me laugh….
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I spent the summer of 1976 in Switzerland at a house far up on an alp with little TV reception. As an Olympics fan, I was disappointed I wouldn’t get to watch the games as frequently as we did at home, but I was optimistic. Afterall, surely the Swiss and the Italian family members would want to cheer for their…
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My brother, whose star-studded life is a continuing astonishment, won tickets to the opening games of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. My mother made this announcement while visiting me in Connecticut shortly before the start of those games 28 years ago. “He doesn’t want to go,” she said. “The seats are good ones–$300 a piece. But he thinks it…
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How much thought have you given to a corset? It’s challenging to write an historical novel if you’re not sure what the clothes are like. How many of us have read Gone with the Wind and wondered if Scarlett really could have an 18 inch waist and still breathe? The answer is probably not. Recent Civil War events in both…
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