Vintage Romantic Author
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, …
It’s something new in my life—people saying, “I’m reading your book.” What does that mean? Do they think I’m some sort of lunatic for letting people read what I write? Are they impressed I even wrote a book? I’m never quite sure how to respond. “Keep up the good work!” or, “Tell your friends!” I …