Some years back my Dad got a phone call from one of the priests at the “German Church” in town who had made a strange discovery. Hidden in the walls of the church up in the choir loft was an old whiskey bottle with a note in it. It was discovered while…
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In the last year or so I have read a number of books by new writers that have sort of shocked me by their total absence of any redeeming value in any of the characters. The great Sol Stein said that in order to consider a manuscript for publication h…
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I’ve never really thought of myself as a suspense writer but a lot of readers have told me that they love the way there always seems to be this undercurrent of anticipation in my stories. That’s wonderful to hear because I have long been of the opini…
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One of the best parts of writing The Old Mermaid’s Tale to me was creating Tessie, the “old mermaid” of the title. To me Tessie is one of my best characters of all times. She fascinates because for much of the book lovely, young Clair is haunted by h…
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“Tell me a story.” To me those are some of the sweetest words in the world. When I was little my Dad used to say to my brothers and me, “Did I ever tell you about my adventures in darkestAfrica?” (we thought darkestAfrica was one word.) “Nooooo!!!” w…
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The word “romance” has endured considerable corruption in the last few decades. Originally derived from the Latin word “romanicus”, an adverb meaning “of the Roman style”, the original meaning of romance was not necessarily connected to love but rath…
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The word “romance” has endured considerable corruption in the last few decades. Originally derived from the Latin word “romanicus”, an adverb meaning “of the Roman style”, the original meaning of romance was not necessarily connected to love but rath…
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Joseph Campbell called it “The Hero’s Journey” and it is at the core of all good storytelling, the quest, the search, the longing. Without a quest it is hard for me to care about the protagonist(s) in any story. As a writer, if I don’t know what my que…
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Port Presque Isle, the setting for The Old Mermaid’s Tale, doesn’t really exist except in parts. When I started writing Mermaid, I set it in Erie, PA but as the book progressed I realized that the story I wanted to spin, the web I wanted to weave, was …
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Dorothy L. Sayer said that she was so in love with her Lord Peter Wimsey that she didn’t have time for other relationships. I think authors often fall in love with our characters and I think that is a good thing. If we don’t love them how can our reade…
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I am genuinely blessed in the nieces and nephews department with 9 nieces, 8 nephews and, at last count, 10 greats! It was for them that I decided to write Fry Bacon. Add Onions: The Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook. Because families have become…
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I never really meant for Mermaids to become such a theme in my books. It sort of happened by accident. I gave The Old Mermaid’s Tale that title because the tavern on State street in Erie, PA that inspired the book was called The Mermaid Tavern. Somehow…
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These three love stories grew out of true stories. All of them are close to my heart. Even though men don’t always talk about it, a lot of them really do love a good romantic story — especially if they can relate to the characters involved who are far…
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My brother Wayne is the one who actually got me started knitting. He learned from the nuns at Queen of the World and taught me. Later on one of nuns showed me how to purl (Wayne hadn’t gotten that far yet) and then how to bind off — which was a good…
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Julie Morris is beautiful. Julie Morris is rich. Julie Morris always gets what she wants — until she wants the wrong man. Then Julie Morris must be killed. Killing Julie Morris is the second story about revenge in my 2 story collection Home-made Pie …
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