When I was researching the history that forms the background of my Civil War WIP, I found all kinds of treasures at the Maryland Historical Society’s H. Furlong Baldwin Library. But one little document brought new life to my story. I wrote the first draft during National Novel Writing Month a year ago. Writing furiously…
You know it’s a good story when you’ll find some more ironing to do just to keep the story going. Robert Masello‘s thriller is part Indiana Jones, part Monuments Men with a dash of The DaVinci Code and even demon stories thrown in. I listened to The Einstein Prophecy (on Kindle Unlimited) because I had so much…
It’s 9 a.m. any day of the work week. And weekends, too, if the family doesn’t already have something for me to do. Where am I? It had better be right here with my laptop open and Scrivener humming away. Trouble is, often I’m not. Sometimes, I have an appointment, an interview, a meeting. Then it’s…
This is always worth reading. Now I’ll go try to write something worth reading. Happy Friday!
Megan didn’t care whether the storm raged for the rest of the night. Let the thunder roll through the valley. Let the lightning crash through the orchards. Let the rain force Antietam Creek to overflow its banks. None of it compared to the ire in her heart. “How can you be so stubborn?” she asked her…
Sherman Alexie has written a funny, sad, unforgettable tale of a boy who leaves the rez (reservation) every day to go to the high school in town. He walks, hitch hikes, and finds all kinds of ways to get there. And it’s a place that really doesn’t want him. At least not at first. And going…
I knew the Hemingway App was big when my brother, a non-writer, mentioned how much he uses it. Although I’ve been writing for more than half of my life, for the most part, I have relied on old fashioned tools. I own a dictionary in book form. I do admit I gave up my fountain pen…
Did you save your first rejection letter? Jack London saved his — one of several hundred he received over his career. I took a picture of the rejection, scribbled at the bottom of his query, when I visited the busy Jack London State Park in California’s Sonoma Valley. “Interest in Alaska has subsided,” said the editor…
I had to have the video. I was sure this little item was going to clear up questions I had about life in post-Revolution Annapolis. If nothing else, it would clear up a question about clothing. I knew it was an old video, so old even the original TV station that aired it didn’t have…
Doors were left ajar. Porch chairs were tipped over. Shutters were pulled tightly across shop windows. There were bullet holes in Johnson’s store and an artillery shell had left a crater next to Delaney’s tavern. The pale yellow steeple at St. Paul’s was pockmarked and cracked. A few Confederate soldiers, exhausted and dirty, lounged on…
Mary K. Tilghman, writer 