I’ve never heard this quote before, but I love it. Yes, we all leave an imprint on this life, and we should pay attention to what we are putting out and the influence we will leave behind.
Try not to bash into the walls too much. Instead, change those walls!
Thank you, P.C. Zick for featuring me for your Author Wednesday.
Welcome to Author Wednesday. Today I welcome author Lori Ericson who recently released her debut novel, A Lovely County, a suspenseful mystery, published by Oghma Creative Media. The book description provides a haunting and provocative one liner about her book.
Welcome to a lovely county, where innocence finds no justice, and monsters run free.
Welcome, Lori, and congratulations on the publication of your first novel. I’m always interested in when other writers discover their voice. Do you remember when it happened for you?
I dabbled at writing short stories when I was very young, but doubted my ability to make a living at it. Consequently, I pursued a journalism degree in college. I was a newspaper reporter for twenty years. During that time I came across various events and issues that I thought made good fodder for a novel and dreamed of being a writer. Yet, it wasn’t until…
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The final entry in the February Blog-a-thon from writers of Oghma Creative Media. And this is from one of my favorite writers and people, Velda Brotherton! Always nice to finish with a bang!
Oghma Blog-a-thon
She was often a cowhand
In the days of the westward movement women were second class citizens. It’s important to remember that when writing historical stories, whether they be romances or westerns. With few exceptions women weren’t much more than slaves. So a heroine would probably be trapped in this sort of situation. The man, her master, may be her father or an elder brother who’s now the head of the family or even someone her family sold her to. He might be the man she works for, as in cooking, cleaning, washing. Or she could be an innocent girl caught up in the life of a “soiled dove,” or a widow battling being alone again.
Consider the set-up of a few of my books to see how these poor ladies are situated: In IMAGES IN SCARLET, my heroine, Allison Caine, lives in Missouri. It’s 1866. Her family…
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Choosing names for fictional characters and places can be a challenge. A writer has to be careful to make sure names of various characters aren’t too similar, fit the characters, and are something the reader can remember.
While writing A Lovely County, I started out with the real names of the locations I envisioned in Northwest Arkansas. But later in the process I decided it was best to come up with fictional names so as not to disparage actual places. I decided on the name Lovely County because of its historical significance. The title has taken hold in my writer’s mind. I plan to name the next book in the series A Lovely Murder, which is likely to be followed by A Lovely Grave.
Although fictional, the name is based on the historical Lovely County, which was named for William Lovely, an Indian Agent who purchased land from the Osage to serve as a buffer between them and the Cherokee. Lovely’s Purchase encompassed land north of the Arkansas River and stretched across what is now the Arkansas and Oklahoma state line. Lovely died in 1817 and his neutral zone soon failed with a Cherokee attack on an Osage village. After soldiers arrived and began building Fort Smith, The Treaty of 1818 gave Lovely’s Purchase to the Cherokee, leaving Persis Lovely, widow of William Lovely, the only white settler. The land was rich with timber and springs, and the Treaty caused envy by the whites and Osage alike. On October 13, 1827, Lovely County, Arkansas was formed from most of Lovely’s Purchase. On the Arkansas side, the county included all or part of what is now Benton, Washington and Crawford counties. In Oklahoma, it included all or part of the current Delaware, Mayes, Wagner, Cherokee, Adair, Sequoyah and Muskogee counties.
A year after it was formed Lovely County was abolished because of the constant upheaval and disagreements over boundaries between white settlers and Indian tribes. The largest portion of what was left in Arkansas became Washington County, Arkansas. The rest remained Indian Territory. As it exists today, Washington County encompasses a much smaller area and includes Fayetteville as its county seat.
The records of Lovely County are housed in the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Red Kimono is a fascinating story and Jan Morrill weaves her words in magical way that sucks the reader deep into the story, leaving you gasping for more! Enjoy this blog interview.
Thank you to Deborah Kalb for her interview about The Red Kimono. It comes at a perfect time to honor my mom as she enters the next chapter. Click HERE for the full interview.
Q: How did your family’s history inspire the writing of The Red Kimono?
A: Neither my mother nor her family spoke much about their internment, so for most of my childhood, I didn’t think about it.
But when my parents took us to visit Tule Lake, one of the camps where, as an eight-year old, my mother had been interned, I watched her stare at the desolate site with tears in her eyes. It was then that…
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I love a challenge and the new frontier looks pretty exciting for Ozarks Writers League! Thanks for summing up the issues that are resulting in this transition, Ruth!
Change can be scary.
The older I get, the more this becomes true. I’m comfortable doing it the old way. I’m a firm believer in, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But there are times when change must occur. The recent happenings with the Ozark Writers League in Branson, Missouri is a prime example of this. In case you haven’t heard, after 30 years of meeting every quarter at the College of the Ozarks, OWL (Ozark Writers League) got kicked off campus. Two weeks before our meeting for February.
The campus at the College of the Ozarks is beautiful. A large pond complete with fountains and swans meet visitors as they come through the gate. A peaceful atmosphere settles over you as you drive the quiet streets. College of the Ozarks is a private-funded, Christian-base school.
Just what does Christian-based mean? I suppose everyone who attends must believe in…
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Blog-a-thon day 4 and Jan Morrill stimulates the writing brain on the issue of masks. We all have them. What mask do you wear?
For years, I tried to decide on what my “brand” should be. Finally, as I re-designed my website a few months ago, it came to me:
In thinking about past blog posts and many of the stories I’ve written, I realized that my goal in writing is to “unmask” my characters–bring them to a realization of who they really are. Sometimes I give them courage to remove their masks, and sometimes I show the consequences of leaving them on.
It’s the story of me.
One of my favorite books is The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. A book of daily meditations, I read it almost every night before I go to sleep. Today’s meditation talks about our “inner doors.” I believe it’s the same thing as what I call our masks:
There exists for each life on Earth a set of inner doors that no…
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Day 3 of the Blog-a-thon from Oghma writers. Here’s a great writer Karen Nelson. I liked it so much I just signed up to follow her blog! Enjoy the read.
I love my blog. I love talking to interesting people and sharing helpful articles. I dig the occasional blog hop or writer’s group challenge. But the truth is, I have a whole professional identity that I’ve worked hard on, gone to school for, and would just really like you to know about.
I talk about books because I’m a writer. I talk about education because I’m a teacher. But I’m not just talk – I’m here to help anyone who needs assistance with editing their manuscript, meeting a publisher, starting a class, or looking for a little encouragement. If you’d like to comment here, that would be great – but please take a moment first to check out my website, KarenBNelson.com to see what I do when I’m not hanging out with you wonderful people.
It still seems weird to think of myself as “new and improved”, but that may…
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Day 2 of the Blogathon! This one’s from Jan Morill.
Steve and I did a fun and interesting writing exercise together some time ago. I meant to write a post about it then, but as often happens, life got in the way. I forgot.
But lucky for me, while searching my computer for another file, I came across these sentences and now I have a post idea for this sunny, but frigid Monday morning!
Our little writing project began after listening to a few of the twelve hours (yes, twelve hours) of The Great Courses audio program on “Building Great Sentences” :
Great…
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Part of a Blogathon from writers published by Oghma Creative Media – the Oghmaniacs! Enjoy the read from a great storyteller!
You must walk alone in the dark!
Understanding is a kind of ecstasy. -- Carl Sagan
Rock & Metal Reviews That Hit Hard
Discover - Deliver - Delight
Growing older is inevitable. Growing up is optional.
A miscellany of thoughts about dogs, cats, writing, life in the Ozarks, & occasional book reviews
Lori Ericson 