Blog

When I completed my book, A New York Lady In Helldorado, I was determined to get a Literary Agent and a Publishing deal. I self-published my first book, but getting it noticed was difficult and expensive. I researched how to acquire an agent and looked up examples of query letters that got results. I went to work and wrote a query. And another. I researched agents who represented my genre and sent letters I was sure would bring me success. Nothing. No reply, not “this stinks”, no “drop dead”....

When one decides to be a ‘writer’, there are many things to consider. I thought I needed to have a certain amount of literary skill, a creative mind and a disciplined personality. But that, dear friends, is not the half of what one needs to be a writer in today's world.

I set up my workspace in my home and was grateful for a quiet place to work. Son Todd put the desk together and son Aaron put the chair together. Husband Larry built a beautiful bookshelf that accomodates a small printer and...

The first time I met him in 1881, I was so excited. And so scared. As a twenty-year-old schoolteacher recently arrived from New York, I was more naïve than I owned. I assessed this man of whom I knew so little. He was tall and lean, made of grit and sinew, without an ounce of fat. The angles of his face were sharply unyielding, and I felt a little afraid of his imposing appearance.

Within days, I was sitting across from him at our dining table. I was here because Papa needed my help. I wavered...