Fred, Bunny, Eva and I Reckon with Forgiveness
What do Fred Rogers, Ruth Graham, Eva Kor, and I have in common? Read on to find out! During the 2019 holiday season, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” has played in theatres all across the nation. The movie is a tribute to Fred Rogers, the legend of children’s...
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Grandpa Vogt’s Christmas Table
Dr. Benjamin Vogt, my instructor in a Family History course I took in 2015 via publishing entrepreneur Jane Friedman, is a poet, gardener, and author of creative non-fiction. With his permission, I am printing this poem from the collection entitled...
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Thanksgiving Collection II, a Reprise
This post first appeared on Nov 27, 2013, the year I began blogging. The grandchildren pictured near the end of this post are much older now, but the expression of gratitude remains the same. The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie A. Brownscombe (1914) Courtesy...
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7 Revelations since My Memoir Launch
Writing memoir is like “dis-robing in public,” says one author, but only if you are brave enough to include the hard parts, I say. After my memoir launch on September 14, many details of the first 24 years of my life became public. I voluntarily exposed my self...
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Playing Word Games with Marian and Jill
The blurb on the back cover of Mennonite Daughter begins: What if the Mennonite life young Marian Longenecker chafed against offered the chance for a new beginning? It continues: What if her two Lancaster County homes with three generations of family were...
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Time Flies and You are the Pilot
This weekend some of us set our clocks back and hour, theoretically regaining the hour we lost last spring. It's the spring-ahead/fall behind herky-jerky phenom we never quite get used to. Either way, the rhythms of our lives are temporarily interrupted until we catch...
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Tell Us Your Hair Story
I'll go first: Now it's your turn!
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Extracting Honey, Bee-ing Kind
Aunt Ruthie’s 1945 Diary tells stories of her daily life, but it also holds clippings of other things, like a bee swarm . . . Cartoonists of this era tried to cram lots of action into one scene. Here’s a detail: ...
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Quilts and Tractors and Churns, Oh My! Glenn Longenecker’s Farm Museum
"Why is Glenn Longenecker buying so many antiques?" It was June 2017, and I noticed cousin Glenn was outbidding antique dealers at our Aunt Ruthie's property sale. He was sitting under the sales tent with several items he already bought huddled around his feet. "Don't...
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Meeting Readers: The Joys of a Book Tour
Hands down, meeting readers on tour has been the highlight of the entire memoir publishing and launching business. But first, the launch party in Jacksonville, Florida! Hosted by my trusty Southern Friends, Judy Davis and Carolyn Stoner at Deerwood Country Club, the...
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Mennonite Daughter in a Cornfield with a Giveaway
Reply below to win a copy of the newly released Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced next Wednesday. Comments to count for the contest will close Friday, October 4 (EDT) at 12:00 noon! ...
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Mennonite Daughter Visits Linda Marie with a Giveaway
Lucky me! L. Marie invited me to visit her blog “home” today. I met Linda Marie via Jill Weatherholt’s blog. That’s how the blog-o-sphere works: old friends connecting to new ones! An MFA graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, L. Marie excels at writing Middle...
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Memoir Marketing: My Story in Pictures, Part I
Marketing my memoir marks a significant milestone to all that has gone before: Beginning a blog, learning to know other authors, writing reviews for their books. Then, with my own book Writing drafts Revising Developmental Editing Copyediting Layout and Design...
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The Story of a Plain Girl, Available Soon!
Entré: Hearty Meal spiced with nostalgia Flavored with herbs, bitter and sweet Available for take-out: September 14, 2019 Amazon and other retailers Events: Book Launch, Saturday, September 14 in Jacksonville, Florida, hosted by Judy Davis...
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Wordless Wednesday: Wedding Day Aprons
Expect a special announcement about my PA book tour next week!
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An Explosive Diary Entry
Aunt Ruthie figures large in my memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. Though she stands as my most significant mentor for life, one of my chapters about her is entitled "Ruthie the Cheater." After her death in 2017, I discovered her diaries...
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Kathy Pooler: Steel Magnolia
Kathy Pooler has been a blog friend and writing buddy since we met at a writer’s retreat in 2015. Now we are both publishing memoirs this year: her second, my first. I call her a Steel Magnolia because she has indomitable fortitude, yet she travels the world as a...
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Marriage on the Rocks 2019
House on the Rock “There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.” ― Homer, The Odyssey The House Ways and Means Committee For 52 years...
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