I have many happy memories of visiting my maternal grandparents as a child. Inside the house on my grandparents’ wall was my grandfather’s impressive prize spur collection. Avid reader and horse lover that I was, I was always drawn to the Western Horseman magazines spread across the living room coffee table. I’d read them from […]
The Best Laid Plans by Deb Kastner
I was working on a special post for the Inspy blog all about my cowboy grandfather. I gathered newspaper clippings and old photographs. I’m so excited to share this with you…and I will. But not today. I came down with COVID. Members of my family have suffered through several bouts, but this is my first, […]
From Everybody Dies to Happily Ever After by Deb Kastner
Grab yourself a cup of coffee (or tea, if you prefer), sit back in a comfy chair, and let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a young woman, a senior in high school who dreamt of one day becoming an author. She was super stoked to have the opportunity to […]
Llama, Llama, Love My Mama
Before baby Emily was born (she’s now 15 months old), we were shopping at a secondhand store when I laid eyes on a multi-colored stuffed llama, which I have since come to learn is a character from the video game Fortnite, although I was blissfully ignorant of that fact at the time. I snapped it […]
Gotcha! by Deb Kastner
It can be quite overwhelming when an author is facing a completely blank page at the beginning of a novel. I know who the characters are and have lived with them for awhile in my head. I’ve sketched out at least a modicum of what is going to happen in the story. But here I […]
Gotta Read ‘Em All by Deb Kastner
When it comes to streaming movies, I have a very strange habit, and it’s not your usual binge-every-season-of-a-show, although I occasionally do that, as well (SEALTeam, The Unit). For me, it’s all about the actors. When I find an actor whose work I particularly love, I will search out his/her filmography and watch every single […]
At the Altar (and a giveaway)
I have weddings on my mind. Thirty-six years ago, as of March 21st, I walked down the aisle and into the waiting arms of my beloved. On that happy day, I couldn’t imagine how hard Joe and I would have to work for all those vows we made—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, […]
Riding the Waves
As with any full-time job, writing is exhausting work, and after awhile I find my creative well has been thoroughly drained. My go-to in order to fill up my creative well has always been live music concerts and musicals, as well as other types of live shows. I also love to travel, though I rarely […]
This Christmas
This year Christmas is not what I’d envisioned it to be in any way. We had our floors done in laminate, replacing the most awful pink carpet we’d had since we moved in twenty-odd years ago. That, however, required basically boxing up our house as if to move. I needed to declutter, but my brilliant […]
What am I Thankful For?
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever!” ~Psalm 107:1 I am the first to admit that 2022 has nearly done me in, in a way even 2020 and COVID did not. I don’t like to talk about it, or even admit it, but rather grin and bear it. But as the American […]