This summer I’ve gobbled up so many beautiful books: Here’s a list, probably not complete, though these have had a profound effect on me as a human being and as a writer. ON THE COME UP, by Angie Thomas. I listened to this one, just as I listened to her audiobook of THE HATE U…
Divided Loyalties, my Civil War-era saga of an Irish teen who volunteers to serve the men wounded after the Battle of Antietam, will be officially re-released in paperback July 1 with a brand new cover. I am delighted to introduce it now. It is very different from the original cover, darker but softer, I think.…
I have joined the most awesome group of writers. We’ve formed a Facebook page, Off the Beaten Path Historical Stories, designed for readers so we can share what we’re writing, researching, studying and reading. And so we can get to know those people we love almost as much as our own family. Our readers. We are…
It occurred to me I don’t often read the stories of people not like myself. Although I recently gobbled up L. Penelope’s Song of Blood and Stone, I blush as I tell you that my bookshelves are filled with the likes of Jane Austen, remains my go-to, and lots of other women, including Ann Patchett, Laura…
A vivacious little six-year-old skips down her school corridors. She stops in front of the bulletin boards, signs and framed sayings that cover the walls. And she reads them. With a sparkle in her bright brown eyes, she reads the words aloud with a touch of awe in her voice. As if it is a…
What makes a book worthy of the Romance Writers of America’s annual RITA award? I wanted to know from a reader’s perspective. So armed with the cover of the September RWA magazine, Romance Writers Report, I started looking for them, the best of all the novels submitted to the annual contest. There are 13, everything…
The Baltimore Book Festival is set to begin Friday morning at 11. If you love books and writers, words and sentences, grammar and punctuation, pizza and Asian steamed buns (I always have to mention food), this is your festival. The Maryland Romance Writers tent is on Light Street near the Visitors Center. The schedule is…
