Book launched!

DIVIDED LOYALTIES said hello to the world today. I didn’t see it, mind you, until someone brought it to the house after it arrived on her doorstep. But today was its release day. Launching a book was a nerve-wracking process. I didn’t have to do anything. It was just a date on the calendar. On…

First steps in promoting my novel

I’ve done all the work to build settings that show how I think the countryside around Antietam Creek looked in 1862. I researched the Battle of Antietam, battlefield nurses and medicine (only enough; I’m squeamish). I’ve considered the clothes people wore then, the foods they ate, the names of the roads and churches and when…

WRITING: ‘Contract offer’

Now I know what it feels like to get a book contract. Heady. A thrill up there with winning the lottery or taking an exciting new job. Scary as any step into the unknown. And it came as I spent a day in bed, sick as a dog. About 3 p.m. I felt well enough…