Flowers are inspiring! Seeing the return of the wild Camas & Bluebells blooming in my nearest park (Beacon Hill in Victoria, British Columbia) always revives my spirits and reminds me of this historical tidbit: Native Americans or First Nations used the Camas bulb as a food source. I'd never looked into that historical tidbit, but my story-in-progress, HEALING HOPE, finally … Continue reading Can Flowers Feed our Souls and Bodies? #Nature #History #Inspiration
History
WILD DEADWOOD TALES releases tomorrow! What Inspired 17 Stories Set in Deadwood? #WildDeadwoodTales
I was going to write here about Flowers & Food, but wait! Tomorrow (May 1, 2018) is release day for the WILD DEADWOOD TALES anthology, an inspiring multi-author anthology with 17 new stories set in Deadwood—and with all proceeds going to the Western Sports Foundation. What inspired these 17 brand new, never-published-before stories? The town of … Continue reading WILD DEADWOOD TALES releases tomorrow! What Inspired 17 Stories Set in Deadwood? #WildDeadwoodTales
How Doctors from Canada, USA, and Australia Inspired my New Heroine #History #Inspiration #Deadwood
Who were Jennie Trout, Susan La Flesche, and Constance Stone? They were three women born in different countries who all struggled to achieve careers in medicine in the 19th century. Lucky for their patients (and for future generations) they found the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) where they studied to be doctors and leaders achieving historic … Continue reading How Doctors from Canada, USA, and Australia Inspired my New Heroine #History #Inspiration #Deadwood
A Frontier Doctor’s Early Education #History #Medicine #WildDeadwoodTales
New story. New heroine. New character backstory or...history! Yes, for me, history shapes everything. Today I'm sharing the historical inspiration for Doctor Henrietta Hope, the heroine of my story-in-progress, Healing Hope. First the backstory/history of why I decided to write this particular story... While writing Rescuing Raven (my short story that released May 1, 2018, … Continue reading A Frontier Doctor’s Early Education #History #Medicine #WildDeadwoodTales
Thieves in the Black Hills #History #Deadwood #WildDeadwoodTales
The HISTORY of THEFT is NEVER-ENDING. In the Old West, they hanged you for horse theft. In Merry Olde England, they transported you to a colony for any kind of theft (over a certain monetary value). But in the Black Hills, the thieves who stole the Lakota's sacred land went unpunished. At the end of my last … Continue reading Thieves in the Black Hills #History #Deadwood #WildDeadwoodTales
Cover Reveal: RESCUING RAVEN & the Wild Deadwood Tales anthology #CoverLove #WildDeadwoodTales #WSF
Creating a BOOK COVER is fun! I come up with the ideas and then my designer puts it all together and makes it magic. Pleasing picture. Catchy title. Intriguing tagline. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Most times it is but sometimes...not! After the cover design for one of my earlier books went off the rails, I … Continue reading Cover Reveal: RESCUING RAVEN & the Wild Deadwood Tales anthology #CoverLove #WildDeadwoodTales #WSF
Summer in Deadwood = Time for Research #History #Travel #WildDeadwoodTales
It’s still spring but my thoughts keep racing ahead to the summer. This June I’ll be attending the 2018 Wild Deadwood Reads author-reader event. I’ve never been to Deadwood or even South Dakota, so I plan to spend several days being a tourist. What to see? I'm not sure yet. Research will be required. And there … Continue reading Summer in Deadwood = Time for Research #History #Travel #WildDeadwoodTales
Questioning History is Never Simple
The heroine in my story-in-progress has lived most of her life on the run, but in 1862 her home was a mining camp in… Here’s where it gets complicated. What do I call British Columbia in 1876 (my heroine’s present day) when she’s thinking about an event from 1862? It’s complicated because of a name … Continue reading Questioning History is Never Simple
The Quest for the Perfect Word #WritingLife
What happens when one perfectionist tries to describe another? I wanted to use the word perfectionist to describe a new story character who is very meticulous. Sadly, I had the feeling that perfectionist wouldn't be a word used in 1876 (when my story-in-progress is set). Sure enough, when I went to one of my favorite … Continue reading The Quest for the Perfect Word #WritingLife
When the West was Suspenseful #ThrowbackThursday
Can Throwback Thursday be applied to blogging? A while ago, I joined a group called the Sisters of Suspense and (for 1 year) I posted a monthly blog with them. Why? Because I love suspense stories! Keep reading and you'll see just how suspenseful the Wild West can be. Below is the first blog post that I wrote … Continue reading When the West was Suspenseful #ThrowbackThursday