Archives for “Civil War”
My father handed me a pack of letters in 1994. They were letters he’d saved that my grandfather had given him. As I read them, I became fascinated with Sarah Louise Dyer, my great-grandmother. One of the letters for Sarah came from my great-grandfather and was written in 1864 a month or so before he [...]
It all started when I read THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH by Robert Hicks, a novel about a woman who made the dead soldiers of the War Between the States her life’s work. By the time I finished reading that book, I knew I had to go visit this place, Carnton, where she had lived [...]
As authors a really common question we get asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?” Never has that answer come so easily as this series. The Trouble in Texas Series. Swept Away, Book #1 of the Trouble in Texas series releases in February. I got the idea for this series while researching Andersonville Prison [...]
A Western, East of the Mississippi? My latest Love Inspired Historical, Their Frontier Family, is set in Wisconsin in 1869. I know most of us don’t think of Wisconsin as the frontier. But it was part of the country opened up to homesteading in 1862. Western Wisconsin was still wild enough to be included as [...]
I love the history behind the Civil War, particularly those little known facts that make for great conversation. I came across one such oddity and thought it’d be fun to share it with you all. It was often necessary to deliver goods, as well as medical supplies, behind enemy lines. My story is about Joshua [...]
What? Using genealogy to research a historical novel? No way. Way. Let’s say you’re writing a Civil War story. Your hero was born in the South but moved to the north as an adolescent. The skills he learned hiding out in the woods to avoid beatings from his father now serve him well as he [...]
When you think of women and the Civil War, you think of brave nurses, maybe double agents…spies! Or (if you’re a romance novelist especially, you think of brave Southern Belles plantations from maurauding Yankees. What you don’t think of are women charging into battle. There were women living in those infantry camps, suffered in prisons, [...]
In 1856, a New Orleans doctor, Jean LeMat designed and created a truly unique weapon: a pistol that was both revolver and buckshot weapon in one. The original LeMat revolver was 13¼” long with a 6 ¾” barrel, weighed 3 pounds-8 ounces, and sported a .44 caliber nine-shot revolver. Other calibers were later produced, primarily [...]
Dorence Atwater and The Death List The story of Dorence Atwater and the price he paid for the truth (Read carefully for a chance to win a signed copy of my 3 in 1 June release Sophie’s Daughters Trilogy) In Andersonville, Ga, the most notorious Civil War prison of them all led to the [...]
Writing books is a funny way to pass the time really. Sitting around, makin’ stuff up. Alone. So very, very alone! Honestly if someone finds they just can’t write a book, even if they’d kind of LIKE to do it, just don’t feel bad. It’s not a very normal way to pass the time. So [...]
Many thanks to Karen Witemeyer for inviting me to be a guest blogger today to spread the word about my newest novel for Revell, Where Wildflowers Bloom. Wildflowers is the first in the Sisters at Heart series and is set in Missouri shortly after the end of the War Between the States. When I worked [...]
When I heard the name “Griswold” while watching Hell on Wheels, I was instantly intrigued. It’s a familiar word in our household due to Chevy Chase, aka the hapless Clark Griswold Years ago, when I saw the pull-down attic stairs that ensnare him in Christmas Vacation, I yammered so much and so often about a similar [...]
How much do I love SuperChannel? A friend mentioned that I would probably like a new series called Hell On Wheels. I checked it out (On Demand) and the husband and I watched the first episode and LOVED it. It all starts with a Union Soldier in a confessional, seeking absolution for things he [...]
I have a character in Out of Control, book #1 of my Kincaid Bride’s series, the youngest brother Seth, who spent time in Andersonville Prison during the Civil War. So I’m just researching Andersonville to find for sure where it was and when it opened and closed. No sense having poor old Seth stuck [...]
During my research for a new project on the effects of the Civil War on the Panhandle of Texas, I discovered something I already knew, but hadn’t thought about in ages … it didn’t! The War Between the States never came to the Texas Panhandle, although the last battle of the Civil War was fought [...]
In honor of the 150th “anniversary” of our country’s most ”dishonorable” war, I thought I’d regale you with some trivia. (Thanks to Civil War Trivia and Fact Book by Webb Garrison.) See how well you do. Answers will appear in the post below. 1. What important visitor did General [...]
1. c. Abe Lincoln. 2. b. Sounded retreat by bugles or drums. 3. a. Twenty five cents. 4. d. Praying on his knees. 5. b. Frederick Douglass. 6. d. Dr. Richard Gatling. 7. a. Abe Lincoln. 8. b. Cigars. 9. d. John Brown. 10. b. Walt Whitman
The premiere of this season’s “CSI: New York” last week gave me pause to think about one of the unsung heroes of the Civil War … Dorance Atwater and Andersonville Prison. In the CSI story, Gary Sinise has left the unit to work on identifying victims of 9/11 in order to provide closure to their [...]
Although I don’t consider Gone with the Wind a romance (no happy ending) but indeed a love story, it’s still been a great influence in my literary life. After I read GWTW for the first time when I was fifteen, the book opened the door to a life-long interest in the most deadly conflict in [...]
I’ve always loved Historical Romance. I grew up with Dad reading Louis L‘Amour and Mom reading Barbara Cartland. In 1987 I’d written two stories and decided to be adventurous and go to my first RWA set in Dallas. This was ‘big time’ for me. I mostly walked around with my mouth open in shock, trying [...]
