The idea of Charnaye’s art project came to me because I had met the late George Flett at a craft fair on the Colville Reservation. We ended up trading books for art! That was such an honor. What a remarkable and talented man. It was that day I fell in love with ledger art. Since […]
All fictitious stories, short or long, have five elements in common. Without one of these five foundations, your story will fall flat, like a house built on sand. It’s important to know and use these so your story will make the reader satisfied, wanting to read more. ~ Character ~Setting ~Conflict ~Plot ~Solution When writing […]
Every story begins with an idea. Where do Ideas come from? Where do I begin with a short story or novel? Ask “What If?” questions. What if your hero (main character) hopped a horse, taking only his/her bow, and when your hero stepped off the train he/she went back in time, forward into the […]
A name. I needed a name for my next book. Actually, I didn’t need 1 authentic name, I needed 12! After my first 2 young adult books that included one girl, Spupaleena, I got a harebrained idea to have her race horses like Native men have done for years during our Ferry County Fair––Indian Relay. […]
Three weeks left until Hannah’s Journey is released! October 1….Save the date! Does fashion mystify you as much as it does me? Especially the mid-1800s. I love wearing shorts and sandals in the summer and jeans and sweatshirts in the winter. I’d love to live in the same era as Hannah and Spupaleena, but…only if […]
Welcome friend and fellow author Mary E. Trimble. I’m excited to help her launch her new release, Maureen. So without further ado, here we go! The inspiration behind Maureen: In my first book, Rosemount, a Young Adult contemporary western, sixteen-year-old Leslie Cahill rebels when her widower father announces he’s sending her to a private girls’ school in […]
Happy Monday friends and readers! I’d like to introduce the Hannah’s Journey book cover to you. This is the second book of the Gardner Sibling Trilogy, a young adult story of one headstrong girl becoming a woman of character and vision. Hannah is Delbert’s older sister and was last seen in Heart of Passion as a five-year-old […]
I was born white. It’s my heritage. Yet I write main characters from another ethnicity––Native America. My grandmother always told us we were part Indian, but the proof never came. It still hasn’t and probably never will. I never intended to write let alone write books that have the protagonist from a different heritage. I […]
Welcome to Maria Inés, an aboriginal woman who struggles to survive while she reclaims her family, her faith, and her ancestral identity by Anne Schroeder. Today I have the pleasure of introducing award-winning author and Women Writing the West member Anne Schroeder and her novel Maria Inés. I find the Salinan people from the […]
It was six weeks when I heard back from a publisher about my latest work-in-progress. Waiting to hear back from a publisher tests not only one’s patience but self-esteem, too. While waiting and soaking in my lesson in patience, biting my fingernails, I was hunkered down under my fair tent as rain tumbled down during […]