My second novella “Mending Sarah’s Heart” in a Thimbles and Threads Collection releases on July 1st. A novella is shorter than a full novel, but longer than a short story—if that isn’t a fluffy definition, I don’t know what is. There are four novellas in the collection, each written by a different author. Rose, the heroine of my first novella, carried a sewing basket everywhere she went. She used her sister Sarah’s seamstress shop as an excuse to get to know the ladies of the

Success never happens overnight, no matter how much I imagine it does. Reality competitions like the Idol shows and the Talent shows gloss over the years of hard work and training. The news media loves an "overnight success" story. They planted the dream in my head as a youth. When I’m in the trenches, every setback tells me I’m a failure. But that’s a lie. A setback is a chance to learn and regroup. Successful people spent years training—writers included. I attended my first

Research is part of the fun in writing historical novels. For me it’s often an excuse to go on a rabbit trail—in other words, “squirrel!” The heroine of my story in Mending Sarah’s Heart (which releases in the Thimbles and Threads Collection in July) is a seamstress. I typed the words. “Sarah pushed one last pin into the sleeve.” But wait, did they have pins in 1884? I Googled the history of pins. While not the most accurate resource, Google is a start. The short answer is ye