Dear Santa Claus

I used to write to you every year. I’d print a letter in crayon and ask my mom for an envelope which we’d address to you at the North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada.I’d include a greeting for Mrs. Claus and the reindeer. I’d tell you what I wanted for...

Lessons in community

The small towns I write about aren’t perfect. Neither is the one I live in. There’s hunger and deprivation and, as a result of rural poverty and unemployment, there’s disenfranchisement and loss of hope.I’m reminded, though, how gestures large...

Goodness, a word for our time

My word for 2015 is goodness. As those of you who read my blog regularly know, it’s been a year when goodness has at times been hard for me to find. At other times, though, I’ve been blessed with abundant goodness, a reminder that even in the darkest...

“The Call”

I’ve wanted to be a published author since I was nine-years-old. However, although I’ve always written, it was only in February 2009 that I started to work seriously toward publication in romance. If you’re an aspiring writer, “The Call,”...

Remembering a life

I lost a special member of my family this week, and my last living link with a world that’s now vanished. I blogged about Cousin Mary in August 2014 at the centenary of the start of the First World War. Born in May 1910, Mary didn’t remember the start of that...