It has been awhile since my last post, and my online blog feels more like a travelogue! The nearly month-long interim has been consumed by work on my third novel. Still no firm decision on a title, but my trusty designer, Kat, should have a promo flyer ready soon. We spent last week (Aug 29-Sep 5) at Wells, New York. This was our fourth year here and it did not disappoint. I raided the fudge counter at the Northville 5 & 10, we had a yummy chicken and biscuit dinner at the…

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I sat at my desk in the computer lab at the school where I had worked for over fifteen years as the technology coordinator. School was in its second week and I was trying to organize my "to do" list. Some things were leftover from summer break, and there is always an onslaught of problems once the teachers and kids get settled in. These were the days before iPads and Google Drive. Our network involved 25 PCs in the lab, 12 laptops in the library, and 5 PCs in each classroom, so there was plenty to keep me busy.

Another successful trip to our July favorite, Boyd Pond, north of Gouvernour, NY. Most of the week was warm, one day really hot. That night around midnight, we had very heavy rain, constant thunder and lightning, and golf ball size hail. Between the noise of the hail and the emergency alerts on my phone, I didn't sleep much. The next morning I was surprised to see there was no damage, although some nearby places lost power. Boyd Pond looks as it always does. I believe the loons have a baby--you can see him flapping in the water in one of the photos.

I was in my forties when I decided to try my hand at writing prose. I'd written poetry in high school and college. It was typical teenage stuff and nothing special. My short stories were *meh* and I didn't know why. But could I write something with substance? Something longer than a few hundred words? As I sat in my chair at home, I scanned the room for inspiration. My eyes landed on an antique quilt, handed down from who-knows-whom but it was at least over one hundred years old. And I wondered--could a quilt handed down from one generation to the next be the basis of a story?

Gregory, Michigan is a small town west of Ann Arbor, and where Charlie's brother, Dave, and sister-in-law Joan, live. Dave pretty much built the house by himself over a period of two to three years. Impressive! We ventured out for a visit the last week of May. Dave, Charlie, their sister, Judy and brother-in-law Doug spent much of the week cycling the trails in and around Gregory. Some days I walked while they biked; some days I stayed home with my knitting and my camera. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the spectacular sandhill cranes.

Yeah, you see it right. COVID. That's soooooooo 2020! But it happened to me anyway. I suspect the critter found me on the train coming home from visiting my sister. I would have highly recommended train travel until I woke up four days later feeling like my sinuses were about to explode. My throat hurt, felt scratchy...Yup, a cold for sure. But this felt different somehow. My lips tasted like a salt lick. I was so tired, so lethargic. Day by day it just wasn't getting better so by Thursday, 8 days after my train ride, I gave in and went to the doctor.

We took our third annual trip to Newfield a couple of weeks ago, a little later than usual but postponed because of Charlie's broken ribs. It's nice that we can take the pups with us when we go there--one less worry and they are getting used to traveling. The forecast was for temps in the 60s-70s and rain. The temps kept their promise; the rain stayed away. At the park the temperatures were in the mid to upper 70s making it a great day for a hike. Later that day the sky turned dark and thunderstorms threatened but nothing much came of it.

News from Janis Robinson Daly, April 2026--FEATURED REVIEW. Susannah Willey’s NOSTALGIA opens with a single, devastating truth: the outward violence of war is only half the story. It’s the other half, however, that Willey explores, which gives the story its inner depth. Through her main character, Dr. Jim Banyon, we enter the battlefields, surgical areas, hospitals, and prisons of the U.S. Civil War, where Banyon witnesses the slow, unseen unraveling of a man’s mind. Nostalgia takes its title from a nineteenth-century clinical vocabulary that physicians used to describe a constellation of symptoms — severe homesickness, despair, chronic anxiety and functional breakdown.

It's not an inappropriate question to ask this time of year. And yes, the pun is intended. Spring Equinox--the sun is equidistant from the north and south poles. Lord knows spring is a schizophrenic time of year. But in the past week, all the rain and cold have given way to a few warm days, and nature is waking up from a long, dormant sleep. After my rants about winter, the least I can do is recognize the beauty of spring. Left-right/top-bottom: spring bulbs,crocus, daffodils, forsythia, lilac, maple tree, peony, snowdrops in March, spirea …

Posted: 16 Mar 2026, 08:47 by Emily Walmsley Nostalgia by Susannah Willey was a well-written historical fiction book that takes place during the American Civil War and follows a war surgeon named Dr. Jim Banyon. As he observes the effects the Civil War is having, not just physically but psychologically, Dr. Banyon realizes that war ultimately leaves more wounds than the human eye can see. I rate this book 5 out of 5. Something I enjoyed about Nostalgia was the imagery in the author’s writing. I felt like I was there, even during the horrifying recalling of battle scenes and the highly tense surgical scenes.

I was raised in an extended family of soldiers. My father served in WWII's Pacific Theater. Though the Veteran's Administration labeled him as a "combat soldier", he worked those years as an airplane ...

You may remember in a previous post I referenced the Vet Center in Canandaigua, New York as a recipient of proceeds from March and April sales of Nostalgia. What is the Vet Center, you ask? A place for veterans, yes. But the Vet Center is a lot more than that. Here's some information from the Canandaigua Vet Center's website: "Vet Centers are small, non-medical, counseling centers conviently located in your community...staffed by highly trained counselors... [A]t Vet Centers you can form social connections, try new things, and build a support system with people who understand you and want to help you succeed.

Nostalgia is going on tour! Thanks to Cathie Dunn at the Coffeepot Book Club, Jim and Napoleon's adventures in the Civil War will be featured on the following blogs from March 16-20. Here's the schedule. Please have a look and add Nostalgia to your reading list. March 16thHistorical Fiction Blog The Coffee Pot Book ClubMarch 17thSarandipity's Ruins & Reading Epic stories. Timeless journeys. March 18thCarolyn Hughes' Official Blog Rachel Elwiss Joyce's Official Blog March 19thLet Us Talk of Many Things Anna Belfrage – Stolen Moments March 20thBrook's Journal Elizabeth St.John's Official Blog The Historical Fiction Company

…But in other news, today is THE FIRST DAY OF MARCH! As I write this post on Saturday, February 28, 10 am, the temperature outside is 50 degrees. We know it won’t last (in fact, the for…

...But in other news, today is THE FIRST DAY OF MARCH! As I write this post on Saturday, February 28, 10 am, the temperature outside is 50 degrees. We know it won't last (in fact, the forecast for Sunday is in the 20s with a low of 7), but we're a little giddy just the same. We can feel it...We can taste it... Don't be a party pooper, Mother Nature, give us some spring! This week has been a roller coaster. My partner, Charlie, slipped on some black ice and fractured two ribs.

What is meant by the term “indie author”? An indie author is a writer who self-publishes their work (as opposed to “traditional” publishing- i.e. hiring an agent to find a p…

What is meant by the term "indie author"? An indie author is a writer who self-publishes their work (as opposed to "traditional" publishing- i.e. hiring an agent to find a publisher willing to take a chance on you. The conventional wisdom seems to be that a writer who publishes their own work does so because they simply aren't good enough to attract a publisher--hence their writing must be crap and not worth buying. Let me say that authors who independently publish are not cowards or egotists--in fact, they're more likely the opposite.

Whaddaya mean it's still January???? Will the snow gods never stop? Our total is now over 130" (our yearly average is 120"). And pity the poor north country. Their totals are nearly THREE TIMES as much as ours. Even the snowblower has given up.

What?? What person in their right mind wants it to be February? February is the coldest--and often snowiest--month in this neck of the woods. A twenty-eight/nine-day month that feels like forty. By now most of us snow-belters are sick, sick, sick of snow and cold. And this year has been a mother-----. What's worse, it's the kind of weather that respiratory viruses love: warm, cold, warm, cold, snow melts, snow falls in buckets., more melts...more buckets. New York is having once of its worst flu seasons in decades. And by February, most of us are SAD: suffering from a lack of sunshine and vitamin D.

Bullets flew, cannons roared… …but there was something much more insidious that stalked the battlefield, and Jim had no idea how to treat it. Dr. Jim Banyon, an ambitious Civil War surg…

They say editing is the hardest part of writing. I would disagree. If you are an indie writer like me, the hardest part of writing is getting your book publishing-ready. This means formatting the i…

On October 18th, I attended my third “Author Meet & Greet” hosted by Baldwinsville Public Library. At those three events combined, I have sold two copies of War Sonnets. October 18,…

The Psychological Landscape of the Civil War – an Editorial Review of Nostalgia from the Historical Fiction Company, By DK Marley Susannah Willey’s “Nostalgia” is an enlight…

The Witches of Riegersburg, an historical novel by Julie Anne Stratton begins in the castle for which it is named. Located in southeastern Syria, Riegersburg castle is the site of the witch trials …