Writing - the ups and downs

Finally - New Release is out! Available now in paperback and kindle version. On Amazon. Since we last visited the fictional town of Shady Creek, West Virginia, Vada Faith and John Waddell have welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Sweet Baby James. Their world shatters one afternoon when eight-month old James is missing from his play pen on the front porch of their old Victorian home. Is it a real kidnapping or is it a hoax? Duke Cobb, the town’s only police officer, determines to get to the bottom of this mystery. As the hours pass, Vada Faith’s trust in God wavers. She fluctuates between praying for her son’s safety and making bargains she isn’t sure she can keep. At a candlelight vigil in the park, Hope and Charity plead for the return of their baby brother. At the same time, two elderly sisters manage to knock the small town off its axis. Missing: Sweet Baby James is an unforgettable read, filled with unexpected twists and turns. Click the link below to go to Amazon and check o...

In honor of Valentine's Day my short story, Dear Anne: Love Letters from Nam is free on Amazon from February 13- 17th. Hope you'll get your free copy. I'd appreciate hearing from you after you read it. Or leave a review on Amazon, which is even better. It actually helps sales. And sales for my books this winter have been almost non existent.  The review can be as little as a sentence or two to let me and other readers know how you liked the story. Writing is a lonely profession and any feedback is always appreciated. I've been hard at work on finishing the current novel and editing is taking WAY longer than I'd ever planned. That's what happens when one is a perfectionist. Any job takes twice as long because we do a lot of second guessing and downright worrying over every phrase. With this novel, since it's told from several points of view, I've had issues with the time line. At last, I believe I have all those issues ironed ou...

 Sisters and Friends Forever! Donna Sue and Bobbie My birthday gift of a poem to her a few years ago Today my sister Donna Sue Null Hoffman would be 77 years old. Three years without her has left a hole in my days. She called every day to check on me. She was like a second mother when we moved from our childhood home, I was five and she was eleven, and my mom remarried and worked full time. She took me under her wing and continued looking out for me until the day she died. One of the last things she told me when she was very ill in the hospital just before her death was she needed to take me shopping at Beall's (FL) and buy me clothes. She'd learned that I had bought some clothes at a local thrift store. (I love thrift stores. Her - not so much.) I asked her then what Beall's had that she liked so much. She said, "Pretty things." I asked her how she intended to get us to Beall...

What does Valentine's Day mean to you?   We each have our own unique story of love and how we met "the one."  Some have funny stories, strange stories, or simply humdrum stories that are special. Here's how I met mine. My cousin, Sue, married the guy's best friend, Bill. Sue and Bill had set me up on several dates that fizzled. I wasn't sure about this third one. However, I went along with it. AND fifty some years later, I can report that it was a success. He was exciting, tall, dark, and handsome. A world traveler who'd been in the Navy (a Seabee), traveled aboard ships, vacationed in Hong Kong, stationed in the Phillipines, visited Hawaii and lived on Midway Island as a swabbie. He was, in other words, exactly what I was looking for. Someone who would take me away from my childhood home where I thought my life was the pits. (How is it we learn after we mature that our lives were pretty darned good growing up! In fact, real good!) We started our ...

It's been so long since I've written a blog I'm not sure anyone will even come by. But if you do, know that I appreciate your reading. I was cleaning some files and found this Christmas poem I wrote years ago. So I'm recycling my work again. I love writing but have spent the last five months reading, reading, reading, hoping that by reading all sorts of different genres that my own writing will improve. I have to admit though when I get into a good/great story, I sink in and my writer self takes a leave of absence. I'm still working on the novel about Sweet Baby James, a baby abduction. Hoping I'm making the story stronger than any I've yet written. So here's my poem. Enjoy! Have a lovely beginning to your Christmas season and God Bless! THE RED CHRISTMAS CANE  I was walking around on an old cane that year Grumping and complaining that the holidays were here. I looked out my window and as far as I could see There were lights, stars, and ang...