YouTube video by Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations

When I’m writing a book, my characters have a habit of following me everywhere. I leave my desk, but they don’t leave with the notebook. I think about them while I make coffee, do the dishes, or tr…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On A pork chop recipe form Sharon Ledwith for those cooler autumn days. Autumn in Canadian cottage country can be a beautiful, yet sad time of the year, as it rem…

Sometimes a character enters a story so quietly that I don’t realize how much she matters until I find myself thinking about her long after I’ve closed my writing notebook. That’s what happened wit…

Oktoberfest is the festival to end all festivals that is celebrated around the world but started in Munich, Germany for a royal wedding in 1...

There is a moment in the life of every book when it no longer belongs entirely to its author. For months—sometimes years—the story exists in a private world. It lives in scattered notes, unfinished…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On The seasons change from Stella May who shares her thoughts on endings or is it beginnings. We often think of autumn as the season when things end. The flowers …

There is something quietly magical about the first day of autumn. The world does not transform overnight. The leaves do not all turn gold at once, and the air may still carry a trace of summer’s wa…

Fall begins with this… It’s officially fall at my house! I know the official date is September 22 this year, and that the official calendar ...

I needed a change. I’d been writing regularly in one form or another for over 40 years and was burned out. But when we give something up, there is often a hole left behind, so I needed a new hobby.…

A recipe from Sharon Ledwith who shares her family’s recipe. Cookies are high up on my family’s snack list. Heck, some would consider them a breakfast. These oatmeal cookies can be served as both. …

A few days before one of my books is released, I always find myself thinking about the journey that brought it into being—and about the readers who are preparing to enter its world for the first ti…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On Author Leigh Goff who shares with us about a witch’s supernatural spirit companion. A witch’s familiar is her lucky charm. What is a familiar or a famili…

It’s estimated that nearly 500 animal species have become extinct since the beginning of the 20th century. Among them the Passenger Pigeon, ...

There comes a moment in almost every difficult journey when the voices around us begin to change. At first, people encourage us. “Keep going.” “Don’t lose hope.” “You’ll find the answer.” But as ti…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On The enigmatic Sharon Ledwith who brings us her Tales from Fairy Falls. The second installment of Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls, Blackflies and Blueberries,…

Looking for a comedy show for mothers day in the East Valley. Look no further than the Main Street Comedy Show in downtown Mesa.

Autumn in Canadian cottage country can be a beautiful, yet sad time of the year, and our Labour Day Weekend reminds us that the season is ab...

Every year on Labor Day, we celebrate the dignity of America’s workers and the labor unions they have built.  Unfortunately, for most people today it simply marks the last week…

I’ve been thinking about writing this for a long time, but never put the actual words to paper. Something always stopped me. When the story ...

There are still warm mornings and bright blue skies. There are still flowers holding on to their color and trees dressed in green. There are still evenings meant for sitting outside, listening to t…

Some love stories are gentle. Others must fight to survive. They endure separation, misunderstanding, loss, impossible choices—and, in some of my books, more than a century standing between two peo…

There’s something about autumn evenings that calls for low-effort magic—the kind where you assemble a plate of seasonal snacks, mix a proper Southern cocktail, light a candle, and li…

There’s something spellbinding about the first crisp autumn afternoon. The air turns cooler, golden leaves crunch underfoot, and the only acceptable thing to do is to curl up with a steaming pumpki…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On The glowing Anne Montgomery who shares her experience with radioactive medicine. When I got Covid and subsequently broke my leg a few years back, I was labeled…

There are twists and turns in life that take us to places we never dreamed of. My thanks to podcaster Ryan Wright for letting me tell my story. I’ll let him handle it from here. “In the…

We like to bake here in Carpenter Country, and we love to eat what we bake. Today we want to share one of our favorite recipes with you. Hop...

The Quiet Choices Behind a Lifetime Together With my thirty-seventh wedding anniversary approaching, I have found myself thinking about love—not only the breathtaking kind celebrated in novels and …

When readers remember a beloved story, they do not always remember only the people. They remember the house at the end of the road. The garden where a secret was revealed. The room in which someone…

Choose The Better Story Podcast · Episode

Every writer knows that characters have opinions. They object to carefully constructed plans. They refuse to deliver the dialogue written for them. They fall in love with the wrong person, reveal s…

The Women Who Refuse to Wait for Rescue Once upon a time, the heroine stood at the window of a distant tower and waited. Somewhere beyond the horizon, a handsome hero was riding toward her. He woul…

Wednesday Special Spotlight Focuses On The advice of Leigh Goff who brings us her thoughts about inspiration for a writer. What inspires a writer? For me, it was a perfect storm of three factors. S…

Inside Greenhouse Three there are vigorously growing hanging nursery pots of tomatoes. These are cherry tomatoes and they come in red or y...

Would You Change the Past If You Could? It is one of those questions that sounds simple until we truly begin to think about it: If you could return to the past and change one thing, would you? Most…

Mathematics and destiny may seem like complete opposites. Mathematics depends on logic, patterns, and proof. Destiny asks us to believe in invisible connections, inexplicable coincidences, and the …

Andrew Morris has always trusted mathematics. Numbers are dependable. Equations follow rules. Even the most complicated problem has a solution—if one is patient enough to search for it. Love, unfor…

Did you ever wonder what goes through an author’s mind when trying to create a book series? Doesn’t matter the genre, there’s still so much ...

There is something almost magical about opening a brand-new printed book. The quiet crackle of the spine. The smoothness of untouched pages. The scent of paper and ink. Even the simple pleasure of …

Wednesday Special Spotlight Shines On The life lessons of Anne Montgomery who brings us her latest experience. I have worked out most of my life. I started ice skating at five. I skied and swam. Wh…