Naming characters
A reader asked me, “How do you name your characters?” That’s a great question.
Writing (and Riding) the Dakotas
At this year’s Western Writers of America convention I was asked to participate and provide a South Dakotan’s take on Writing Dakota
The next book in the “Claim” series
I didn’t set out to be a multi-book author. I thought once I’d written Proving Her Claim, I’d have the writing bug out of my system. But then the Lone Tree Claim story waited to be told. Like Proving Her Claim, a fact or, more accurately, a museum exhibit inspired this book. Several years ago, the South Dakota Ag Heritage Museum presented […]
Researching the art of cheesemaking
When I give an Author Talk, I’ve found that audiences are very interested in the research involved in writing a historical novel. In Proving Her Claim, Anna Olson travels from Wisconsin, the #1 cheesemaking state in the country. She plans to start a dairy farm and make cheese. That meant I needed to learn how to […]
A writer’s life: book fairs, conferences and networking
It was my first taste of a “real writer’s life.” It started out with Wild Deadwood Reads. I can’t think of a more appropriate name to describe this event. WDR, held in Deadwood, South Dakota, began in 2017 to connect authors with readers. This was my first time attending the multi-genre book event. Wild Deadwood […]
The value of reader reviews
Reader reviews are truly the lifeblood for authors. Whether it’s a work of fiction or nonfiction, reviews provide authors with feedback, are useful for future books, and are a gauge for the success or failure of the book. In the world of Amazon, where 80% of today’s books are sold, reader reviews are used in […]
Using accents and dialects in dialogue
In a recent author talk, one of the audience members asked me why Two Hawks spoke English with a Scottish accent. I explained that my hero needed to speak English in order to communicate with the heroine and that using a Scottish accent in dialogue seemed reasonable since his father was a Scots fur trader. […]
Book marketing strategies
There’s more to book publishing than simply writing a book. The next step is book marketing.
All things Norwegian
Happy Syttende Mai! For those of you unfamiliar, Syttende Mai, the Seventeenth of May, is Norwegian Constitution Day. It’s the day in 1814 that the Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll, Norway. It’s (sort of) similar to the Fourth of July in the United States — without the fireworks. Flags are flown, there are […]