Inspiration: Collected Letters

  Sometimes, writing feels like this, a thousand letters (and not all of them familiar) come piling down on top of me. I can be driving down the Beltway, walking through the produce aisle, running on the treadmill. A thousand thoughts pile up on me, letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, Stories. It’s a miracle. Does it…

A nod to the fallen at Antietam

I spent many hours contemplating the ultimate sacrifice given by so many during the Civil War Battle of Antietam while I wrote DIVIDED LOYALTIES. Some 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. Last week, while on my way to a travel writers’ conference, I took a…

INSPIRED: Mom’s cherished moments

It was just a kelly green notebook, the kind I used for Math and Social Studies. But inside, day after day, for years, it served as my mother’s diary. Mom documented all kinds of things inside: births, deaths, new jobs, Easter brunch, the day she finished her hand-hooked rug (It took a year and a…

INSPIRED: #amediting

I’m busy editing the manuscript of my Civil War novel. Cutting and pasting, rewriting and rethinking. Oh yes, and occasionally cussing over why I can’t keep things straight in Scrivener. (I’m learning!) So I laughed when I came across this photo from my visit to the Morgan Library in New York last December. When Lord…

INSPIRED: Writers in the Storm

They don’t even know it but I consider Laura Drake, Jenny Hansen, Orly Konig and Fae Rowen among my mentors. The authors  who created Writers in the Storm offer practical advice on the highs and lows of writing. Their columns keep me writing when I feel off, and inspire me to go back to work when I’ve…

WRITING: Maureen’s world

Writers create their own little worlds when they envision their stories. This is especially true for fantasies, fairy tales and those wonderful small town stories we have always loved. My Civil War novel takes place in and around a real town. With serious liberties that would probably drive a Civil War historian insane. But I kept…