I have several vinyl texts attached to the walls of my office. One of them (pictured at the bottom of the meme above) says, “Home is where your story begins.” After looking up who the quote was attributed to, I had to wonder who Annie Danielson was. So I did some Googling and discovered the […]
Let’s hear it for the boys! (+ giveaway)
The other day, I saw a number of bloggers talking about the book characters they would like to have as their BFF. Now, to me, BFF means Best Friend Forever, but I’ve also seen a number of people use it to mean Best Female Friend — and in fact, all the lists I saw were […]
Food in Romantic Fiction
Ah, food. One of my favorite subjects. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll get a taste for just how much I love food in all its forms. Cooking, baking, eating, sharing, and even reading about it. It’s our fuel for life. We fuel our bodies, our spirits, and our relationships over food. Today, I’d […]
I Believe
By: Staci Stallings After watching a motivational speech the other day about purpose and what you believe and how that impacts your work and how that influences your life, I got to thinking about my writing. What do I believe about people, about life, about love, about faith, about hope…? And on and on. What […]
The Summit
Well, I turned forty last weekend. I’m surprisingly okay with that number. I mean, it took a little bit of processing and a whole lot of emotional taking of stock (oh my gosh, <insert life event> happened how long ago?!), but more than anything, I feel like I’m standing on this great mountaintop and I’m […]
What do you mean by “realistic”? (+ giveaway)
One of the things I hear a lot when I’m poking around in reader groups is how much readers want “realistic” fiction. For the longest time, this gave me a lot of hope. My stories are full of realism! Over time, however, I’ve started to wonder if maybe my definition of realistic is different than […]
Art Imitating Life? Life Imitating Art? (And #Giveaway)
Have you read a book and said, “Hey! I’ve done that!” at least once? Do share your stories in the comments below for a giveaway (giveaway ends Saturday, July 13, 2019). There I was, writing and cooking on the same day, as I have done for years. This time, I was revising Call You Home, […]
Photography: A Source of Peace and Inspiration + Giveaway by Melanie D. Snitker
I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures, even before digital cameras were popular, but I never considered learning about photography until after our son was born. At that time, my dedication to reading and practicing in order to take a better photograph was born out of necessity. Just like other new parents, my husband and I took […]
On Our Beloved Four-legged & Furry Characters
I’ve always been a dog lover and grew up having a wagging tailed friend following me around. There’s something about teaching a child to care for something besides themselves, that I think brings out the compassion in them. Well, this was the theory I went with while raising my own kids. I’ve noticed that Hallmark […]
Who Are My Country Music Fans Out There?
This weekend, I’m attending the Carolina Country Music Fest! A huge celebration of country music with 30,000 attendees, and currently, thirty four artists playing! As a birthday present for myself, I splurged on a three-day pass and my sister-in-law, also a country music fan, is flying in from Philadelphia to go with me. I can’t […]