The Social Porcupine

 A Friendly Visit Fred-O ran into the house leaving the front door wide open. Wind rushed in after him and the snow followed his footsteps. “Tom and Mary are coming! I saw their wagon on the down the hill.” Lucy was bending over a pile of dough, kneading it on the table, “Fred-O, the door.” He acted as if he didn't hear, “Shall I go and meet them?” “No,” answered Lucy, punching her bread dough. “They will be here soon enough. In the meanwhile close that door and clean up your wet mess.” Fred-O stood still half a moment as if deciding whether or not to obey. He chose to listen, first closing the door against the wind. Noah was not here, but at the mines with Vern today. Ann helped Lucy with the kitchen, cutting and washing a pile of potatoes Fred-O had brought up from the cellar. Julie sat at a corner of the table, scribbling on a piece of scrap paper. “Noah will be disappointed about missing out on seeing the O'Rallies,” Ann said. Lucy punched her flo...

1. Hey! Welcome to Keturah's Korner. I'm so glad you could join us today and tell us about your book "Where Dandelions Grow." Thank you! It’s good to be here. I’ve read various blog posts of yours over the years, but never imagined I’d one day be featured on here. It’s an honor to be invited!  2. What was the inspiration for this book?  Growing up my sister and two of our girl cousins did everything together. At my cousin’s high school graduation party I was sitting there musing over all our shared adventures and it hit me that I should write a book focusing on the bond between cousins.  3. In one line - what is your book about? The horrible consequences of bitterness, and how important family and forgiveness is.  4. How do you handle caffeine? Or what was the inspiration for how Destiny reacts to too much caffeine?  Oh, dear! You’re asking me that question as I sit next to a large iced coffee that I had meant to...

I recently had the honor to review read a copy of Jack's book Brothers-in-Arms. Amazon Goodreads My review on Goodreads Back Cover: Franz Kappel and Japhet Buchanan never expected their friendship to be tested by the Third Reich.  Friends from early childhood, the boys form an inseparable, brotherly bond. Growing up in a little German village, they escape most of the struggles of war until the day Japhet is banished from school for being a Jew, and later has a rib broken when other village boys beat him up. Franz learns he is putting himself in danger for spending so much time with Japhet but continues to stand up for his Jewish friend even at the risk to himself. Then one day their lives are shattered when they see first-hand that the price of being a Jew is dangerously high.  With the war now on their doorsteps, Franz and Japhet come up with a desperate plan to save their families and get them out of Germany alive. Leaving behind the lives they've alwa...

Joined in this fun tag from here 1. WHAT GENRES, STYLES, AND TOPICS DO YOU WRITE ABOUT? I write many different genres, styles, and topics. I love art. And so I experiment with it all. I do like writing first person the best. I love expressing deep emotions and thoughts all at once. I love fiction that makes you think and feel. The perfect ending is this: like a sunset, bittersweet, even though it's over and dark, there is the knowledge of future hope. For non-fiction I love writing about what is on my heart of I am currently opinionated on. This includes ideas I am thinking about, my struggles, and articles on anti-feminism, homosexuality, roles and duties in friendships and love, honesty, and life. I like people and ideas, and so I write about both. I also really enjoy writing moral fairy tales. 2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING? For as long as I can remember. When I was little I was drawing and writing books, stapling them together. I still have those books :)...

Hello, all!! I believe in this post I promised to tell you all more how NaNo went for me. First of all it went . (Like literally, November is over, guys). Second of all I, uh, won. I guess that's what they call it when you complete NaNo, though I don't understand why. What did I win? Lol... the feeling of accomplishment???  I don't really call completing a challenge winning. Contests are for (one) winners and (lots of) losers. Challenges are for the many who achieve to do the impossible: stretch their mind for the mere sake of stretching. It's the time to hold yourself accountable to yourself. The thing about challenges is when you fail there are no real consequences, but when you succeed the victory is sweeter than any reward! Rant finished: I am a NaNo completer!!!!! Now for my story of how it actually went. The last couple weeks of October I spent doing a lot of thinking... "talking" to my ch...

It has been sooooo long since I did a link-up with these lovely people (to think I used to do it almost every month!) But I had so many of my own posts to share... and, well... you, know... writing is like life, it is constantly changing and growing. But, guys, for the first time I'm doing NaNo !!! And I thought that this would be a fun way to share about it all!!! - Don't worry... I'll do a better update on my novel later ;D Go here to join the fun!! First off, this novel has been in my mind since I was 14... that means the plot has had lots of time to "ferment" and become perfected... even though I did no writing on it. It started out with me discovering that the first Cinderella story was most likely set in ancient Egypt, and about a girl named Rhodopis... her slipper was Fur.  It wasn't until a later mistranslation was the slipper made glass.  Anyways, I got this brilliant idea of a twist of the original story, the Biblical Esther sto...

Hey, Amanda! Welcome to Keturah's Korner! Can you tell all of us a little about yourself? Hi Keturah! So glad to be here! Let's see, I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ, the fifth of twelve children, a home school graduate, the family kitchen cleaner. ;) I enjoy writing (of course), music (teaching, playing piano and violin, arranging hymns, recording YouTube videos), photography, web/graphics design (especially book covers), and reading. Wow!!! That's pretty impressive...especially all the musical stuff!! :) Tell me a little a bit about your blog - what makes it unique and yours! I started my blog almost five years ago as a place to give me a place to do a 52-verse challenge (accountability). From there, I began sharing articles that I wrote for a girls' newsletter and then, more recently, it has been a place to share about my writing, photography, and music (from "look what I've been up to" to "here's a tutorial ...

Mirriam Neal is a twenty-two-year-old Northwestern hipster living in Atlanta. She writes hard-to-describe books in hard-to-describe genres, and illustrates things whenever she finds the time.  She aspires to live as faithfully and creatively as she can and she hopes  you do, too. Check out her  blog  or email her at  the-shieldmaiden(at)hotmail(dot)com So, what's more exciting than a new book!? Pretty much  nothing , right? Haha. But, seriously, all of us that are writers will admit that a new book is just like completely AWESOME, so, let's all be excited for this new book, which I know Mirriam is so happy to be sharing with all of us!!! Three cheers for Paper Crowns ! (Isn't that just an awesome title?) Ginger has lived in seclusion, with only her aunt Malgarel and her blue cat, Halcyon, to keep her company. Her sheltered, idyllic life is turned upside-down when her home is attacked by messengers from the world ...

Not only do I have news of a new book release and an interview with the author....but a giveaway, too! So, read on for more about this awesome book :). Sarah Holman  is an author I just recently discovered. Having won her first novel  a while back, and loving it tremendously, I looked her up and found the rest of her books . Which, of course, I had to read. And did. In fact I just finished reading the last one about a week ago. ( There were like 9 books or so, most of which made up three series. ) Very unique stories full of characteristic characters and original plot twists, her books are fun and fast paced reads. One thing I love about her books is she breaks a writing rule I've been taught can't be broke!!!! She doesn't stick to one genre. As of now, she has a sci-fi series, a medieval series, a historical revolutionary novel, a Cinderella retelling, a Bible story, and a modern mystery. But despite all the great stories, one thing about the novels irrit...