Welcome back to this journey in which we learn what it is like for a writer to create a character and the world in which she lives. But wait, you say, you are not creating a character! Lucia Santos was a real person!  That is true. Many books have been written about the children of Fatima … Read moreLucia of Fatima: Episode 6

  . I cannot think of a better Christmas gift to give the young reader in your family than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—included on Time magazine’s list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of all time. Set in the fantasy land of Narnia, it is a classic battle of good versus evil, a place where it … Read moreThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Lucia of Fatima: Episode 5 Lucia is my fifth book of historical fiction—and dramatically different. Unlike the other stories, I won’t create fictional characters nor will there be imaginative plot lines. Every character will be real; every event will have actually happened.  Now that presents a problem. How do I keep the facts straight without … Read moreLucia of Fatima: Episode 5

Welcome to episode 4 of Lucia of Fatima. As you may know, I am writing the story of Lucia Santos-the primary visionary in the famous apparitions of the Blessed Mother to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. First, I want to report that I experienced a writer’s nightmare—my computer crashed. Fortunately, I saved the 26,000-word … Read moreLucia of Fatima: Episode 4

Here I am back home after a pilgrimage to Assisi and Rome, ready to continue our journey into the creative process of writing a book. Historical fiction has been my genre. This requires research to get the facts correct. Unlike my other four books, this story required virtually no fictional characters or plot lines. The … Read moreLucia of Fatima: Episode Three

Here we go with episode 2 of Lucia of Fatima in which the writer takes you into her hobbit hole – the place where she retreats into the mysterious world of creativity. I set the alarm for 4 AM and climb out of bed. It is a time of silence, hot tea, and reading scripture. … Read moreInto the Hobbit Hole

Ever wonder how an author writes a story? Sometimes I put down a book like Anne of Green Gables and try to imagine how Lucy Maud Montgomery created Anne. The little orphan girl jumps off the page as a living, breathing character. Let me give you an example. Here is the moment when Matthew Cuthbert first … Read moreLucia of Fatima

                                  One late summer day I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes, not knowing that I was in for a surprise. I glanced at the lilac bush growing near the side of our old New England farmhouse. Soap suds bubbled up on my hands as I paused in the midst of my chore. Lilac … Read moreLost in the Soap Suds

Perhaps you have been busy having fun in the sun and missed the big news. On August 3rd, a pilgrimage was organized by a gifted seminarian, Joseph Moreshead. Young and old alike walked along the Kennebec River to honor Father Sebastian Rale, a Jesuit missionary who lived among the Abenaki people for thirty years and … Read moreA Saint from Maine?

Twenty- six years have passed since natives of Maine have graciously accepted this Bostonian as one of them. They have been patient with me as I learned a new way of life. No longer did I live in a Boston suburb, complete with neatly mown lawns and neighbors who lived wicked close to you. We … Read moreYou can’t get there from here!