I know it’s my off week, but this is too fun not to post. Lia London from Clean Indie Reads has started a YouTube channel of super short video reviews of books listed on that website. Lia herself created this hilarious review for one of my middle grade books, Song of the Mountain. I simply had to […]
Blood Moon: Military Innovations of the Charleston Campaign
This is the final post in a four-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Blood Moon, the second book in my Ella Wood series. (Part 1: Women’s Education; Part 2: African American Soldiers. Part 3: Early Photography.) The Civil War provided the turning point from the old European style […]
Blood Moon: Early Photography
This is the third post in a four-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Blood Moon, the second book in my Ella Wood series. (Part 1: Women’s Education; Part 2: African American Soldiers.) Photography plays an important role in Blood Moon. By the start of the Civil War, photographs had become […]
Blood Moon: African American Soldiers
This is the second post in a four-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Blood Moon, book two in my Ella Wood series. (Part 1: Women’s Education.) I’m certainly getting an education in the events of the Civil War. In particular, the events that took place in and around […]
Blood Moon: Women's Education
This is the first post in a four-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Blood Moon, the second book in my Ella Wood series. Every novel I write takes me on a new journey of discovery–especially when I write in the historical fiction genre. Little did I know that […]
Ella Wood: Distance and Speeds
This is the final post in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ella Wood. (Part 1: Charleston, Here We Come!; Part 2: Grimke Sisters.) A central bit of research necessary for historical fiction is finding out just how long it takes to travel back in the day. […]
Ella Wood: the Grimke Sisters
This is the second in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ella Wood. (Part 1: Charleston, Here We Come!) I had created the character of Emily Preston as a slavery-questioning Charlestonian long before I heard of the Grimke sisters. I knew there had to be dissension in […]
Ella Wood: Charleston, Here We Come!
This is the first in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ella Wood. Part of the fun of writing historical fiction is research, and this time I was able to combine it with pleasure. My husband agreed to celebrate our 18th anniversary in Charleston, South Carolina, the […]
Our Choose-Your-Own Story
What began as a winter homeschool project has turned into a published book! This interactive choose-your-own story is the creation of my sons. (I wrote “ghost wrote” the final copy for them, only I put my name on it, too.) It’s now available in paperback and Kindle (just 99 cents!) formats. So far, it’s been a hit. One […]
The Quill Pen and Indie ReCon
Thank you to whoever nominated The Quill Pen to the first ever Indie ReCon Best Indie Novel Award. The book is up on the Indie ReCon contest website as we speak, awaiting votes. The winner receives a custom ebook cover design and a custom ebook format. Voting began this morning and lasts until Thursday at 7:00 pm. Feel […]