Book signing at the Springfield, Illinois, Barnes & Noble Bookstore Early Experiences with Book Marketing As mentioned in my last post, in mid-April I spent a week in Springfield, Illinois. I gave a presentation on the restoration of the stained glass at the Dana Thomas House, a book signing at Barnes & Noble and a… Continue reading A Busy Spring for a New Author →

Diagram of a Prairie Schooner used by many pioneers to travel west. National Oregon/California Trail Center (OregonTrailCenter.org) Although people equate wagon trains with the conestoga wagons, those were primarily used to haul huge, heavy commercial loads long distances and were generally unaffordable for families trying to relocate in western America. Even prairie schooners were beyond… Continue reading Traveling by wagon in the mid-1880s →

Barnes & Noble Lincoln Public Library Lincoln Memorial Garden A busy week in Springfield, Illinois Lincoln Library The week began with my evening presentation to a full Lincoln Library Carnegie Room. I presented a photo-driven program about my early work with Melotte Morse Stained Glass restoring the Frank Lloyd Wright Dana-Thomas House stained glass windows,… Continue reading Cat’s Cafe has made it into bookstores! (lots of photos) →

When I see you, and you ask me why I’m not farther along in Book Two, which I’m confident some of you will (!), I’ll mention this, the latest delivery of deep, drifting, lake effect snow on my beloved Wisconsin town … driveway … deck … I’ve been shoveling snow for what seems like weeks,… Continue reading The author’s life ~ Mounds of snow on Monday →

Photo of Museum of Idaho, from Visit Idaho My great thanks to the Museum of Idaho for the wealth of its resources and the helpfulness of the team there. They helped Cat’s Cafe, Eagle Rock Trilogy Book One come to life in the most realistic way, and my early research for the trilogy a complete… Continue reading The author’s life — Thank you to the Museum of Idaho →

Image from LegendsofAmerica.com In my historical fiction novel, Cat’s Cafe, two saloons compete for hard-drinking rail workers, cowboys, bullwhackers, and others who love a stiff drink as often as they can afford it. In July of 1879, the town of Eagle Rock had just been formed but more saloons would swiftly follow. As an example… Continue reading Saloons in the Old West ~ Whiskey and Women (update) →

Patrick’s Saloon in the historical novel Cat’s Cafe, Eagle Rock Trilogy Book One, wasn’t the highly polished, rich mahogany, mirrored saloon depicted in film and television westerns — at least not in the beginning. Western towns in the 1860s and ’70s were thrown up faster than they could be properly built. Only a few buildings… Continue reading Saloons in the 1870s Old West ~ And an update: Books and Talks! →

Welcome to Eagle Rock, Idaho Territory, 1870s Determination and ingenuity brought irrigation to the desert, education and Christianity to pioneer families and Native American children in a Mormon enclave, women’s suffrage to the West, and civilization to the small town of Eagle Rock where four remarkable women, based on real life late 19th-century women, lived.… Continue reading Four Women Who Tamed the Wild West →

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, photo from http://www.doi.gov National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Shelly Lowe, photo from http://www.neh.gov Native American women now lead the Department of the Interior and National Endowment for the Arts. At last. On January 15th,, 2022 Debra Anne Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo, became the… Continue reading Native American women guide the U.S. forward →

Thank you everyone for the great reviews and comments! “The dramatic center of the story — Catherine finding the inner strength to take on a pile of troubles — is handled with an engaging sense of compassion … A zesty and occasionally touching story of a woman confronting the crude realities of a new life.” … Continue reading Cat’s Cafe, reviews and comments →