Vintage Romantic Author
Bullocks is an iconic name in department store luxury shopping. The more mainstream original Bullocks location opened downtown Los Angeles in 1907. The elegant, art deco masterpiece, Bullocks Wilshire, opened in 1929 and was the jewel in the crown of the Bullocks chain. I don’t have any memory of visiting Bullocks Wilshire. Bullocks Westwood was …
This was yet another early morning. Tender tickets were available at 7 a.m. No matter how management framed their ridiculous tickets from today and San Francisco, I was not impressed. We ate a late breakfast while watching the shoreline as the ship approached shallow Avalon Harbor, thus the need for tenders. Once they started calling …
When my daughter was in 4th grade California history class, her teacher arranged a field trip to Olvera Street. A stay-at-home mom, I volunteered to help out. It was a beautiful spring day. Our docent was an energetic young lady, extremely knowledgeable. She guided us through the Avila Adobe, L.A.’s oldest home, and the historic …
What Does It Take to Write a Book? By Barbara Bush Forletta What does it take? In my case, it took over 10 years from the idea to the completion of Unlocking the Writing Process; Inspiring Lessons and Stories to Get You Started. During my teaching career I developed lessons to help students become interested …
Long before Dr. Spock’s attempt to document the “correct” way to raise psychologically healthy children, many authors published medical science of the day for use by housewives. Knowing I was interested in times past, my mom brought me Wife and Mother or Information for Every Woman from my aunt’s yard sale. Published in 1886, the …
I’ve decided I like old news better than new news. Let me explain. A few years ago, I needed some background information on a vintage story and stumbled across a website containing historic California newspapers. This quickly became one of my favorite sites. It wasn’t only historical information, it was the day-to-day commonplace details that …
I entered a nationwide writing competition last year. The winner would be featured in a national publication. Runners up would have their work published on-line and in eBook format. The word limit was 3,000—a story much shorter than I normally write. After previewing my epic in my writing group, I sent it along to a …
I’ve been working on a short story, hopefully, the first of a series. My initial goal was 10,000 words but these people just didn’t cooperate. They got too interesting! As I approached 20,000 words, I felt the need to research parameters for a short story. Technically, they can be anything from 1,500 to 30,000 words. …
Shopping is fun, I can’t deny it. Since it’s unflattering to categorize this as a bad habit, I simply consider it an undeniable urge to be the best hunter and gatherer I can be. No doubt, this hereditary success is the reason my family is so long-lived. Unfortunately, I’m getting to a part of life …
It was off to the San Fernando Valley to spend a bit of time in the past—the valley’s past and our past. My husband and I visited the recently refurbished North Hollywood train depot so I could take some pictures. This station is of particular interest because it provides a setting for my upcoming book, …