I’ve spent hours and hours researching World War II history and it’s hard to find much about the Pacific Northwest during World War II, even though there is a TON of history there! That’s when I discovered the Portland Oregonian’s online archives. They have every issue online and accessible for a day fee or monthly fee. The stories are unreal. There are the typical AP headlines and world news, but then you stumble over a headline like “Couple Strip Clothes to Save Hiking Pal” and just die. You can tell a lot about the area too by how the stories are arranged by “importance.”
Story Behind the Story: Victoria Burks
One night I dreamed the basic plot to this book. It was as though I was watching a live performance of a play, the main characters’ images clear in the dream. Not one to dream often, I asked God when I awoke the next morning, “Why did I dream a dream like that?” In my spirit I heard the words, “Write the book.” Stunned, I immediately questioned God with the following words: “Write the book? Excuse me, God, but I believe you have the wrong address. You surely meant to go to Victoria Holt’s residence, not the home of Victoria Burks.” However, as the days passed, I couldn’t quiet God’s...
Book Review: Letters from Home
Special Sunday Post Letters from Home Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn’t need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she’s set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief conversation – cut short by the soldier’s evident interest in Betty – but Liz can’t forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees. Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from “Betty” are a comfort, their...
Reorganizing Shelves – Great Video
This is spectacular. And I think I have the same shelves (Target). 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFnuP9niRUg&feature=player_embedded
Story Behind the Story: Christine Sunderland
I have had the wonderful chance to visit Hana, Maui and the islands of Hawaii and been impressed with their culture of family, faith, and history. Since I’ve been troubled by our culture of anti-family, anti-faith, and denial of the past, I thought this would be a perfect setting. So I created a “material girl” from San Francisco and placed her in this rural village. Hana-lani is a fast-paced love story asking some T.S. Eliot’s permanent questions, “what is goodness, truth, and love?” I enjoyed writing this novel, for I could combine some of my social concerns with the dramatic natural beaty of Hawaii, a world at once violent...