Category: Uncategorized
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Write Your Own Holiday Story
Every year I make myself the main character in my own holiday short story. The plucky heroine (me) shops, decorates, and cooks well in advance of the big day. She wears perfect Christmas outfits that don’t make her look matronly or senile. And she graces everyone with a serene smile almost as sparkling as the…
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Going Tribal
When I was a kid, I didn’t realize money was tight. My mother was a single mom before it was in vogue, and I don’t know how she did it on a nurse’s salary, but we always took vacations. We’d pile into the car late at night–my grandmother who lived with us, my little brother,…
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Grounded in a Pumpkin Patch
If you live in the South, you already know October is one of the most mercurial months of the year. Mornings require long sleeves and a heavy sweater. By early afternoon, you’ve ditched the sweater. A few hours later you roll up your sleeves and wish you hadn’t boxed up your shorts. October is also…
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The Problem with November
At the risk of sounding anti-Thanksgiving, which l most definitely am not, I have issues with the month of November. First, it’s too darn short, and all that setting back clocks to save daylight isn’t fooling anyone. Yes, other months are just as short or shorter. But bookended between the dark drama of Halloween and…
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Thanks to Jenny Milchman
In the Spotlight Award-winning author Jenny Milchman is one of the kindest and most supportive women I’ve met. The following is an excerpt from her newsletter Jenny Milchman, Not Another Newsletter. I love working with emerging authors. I met Katherine Nichols at the AWC conference and got to hear as her journey led to the release of her first…
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Wild Women Who Write Take Flight: So Why Podcast?
Last July, my all female critique group–four of the finest writers and kindest people I know–and I started a podcast. We wanted to share our vision of creating a network of women authors supporting one another, a natural extension of our small group. Of course, we love and support male authors, too. Some of my…
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The Power of Sisterhood
Having The Sometime Sister published is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. When people outside my writing group, close friends, and family bought my book and liked it, I did a happy dance and didn’t care who was watching. I couldn’t imagine anything better. Until I heard what a group of lovely ladies had done…
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The Concept of Mercy
My book club chose a more traditional read, John Grisham’s A Time for Mercy. Both courtroom drama and social commentary, it’s an engrossing and thought-provoking read. I’m still reading but will be posting more as well as adding the reactions of my group members. So far, I’m hooked. o
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Parakeets and Marriage
I finished Bertino’s Parakeet, the story of an unexcited bride the week before her wedding day. The narrator has one of the most memorable voices I’ve heard, and the novel’s shift from the familiar to the magical is both disorienting and masterful. As I read, thoughts of my daughter’s upcoming March wedding played in the…
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Reading, Writing, and Recipes
I’m currently reading Marie-Helene Bertino’s Parakeet. It the darkly funny story of a woman whose dead grandmother speaks to her through an unruly parakeet. I love characters with strong, quirky voices. For me, Parakeet is more than a great read; it’s a writing workshop. I’m rewriting a lighter mystery featuring Lucy Howard, a truth-loving, broken-hearted…
Katherine Nichols Author 