News

Genealogy connects loved ones to another in surprising ways, and this week, I want to share with you a story about the possibilities family history research provides. Gil Smith is a close family friend of Catheryne, my assistant. Earlier this year, Gil and his wife Karen purchased an Ancestry DNA kit, and their results were astounding.…

Patience is the ability to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. As best-selling author, Joy Meyer, writes in her book Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind, “Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting. “ That’s easy…

Last week's newsletter broadly explained some differences between my trusty sixteenth edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and the seventeenth edition that arrives in September. I thought I'd mention a few specific updates in subsequent newsletters, starting with the singular they. This CMOS Shop Talk Article discusses the singular they updates in depth, so I thought I'd share them with you. We…

I recently read a wonderful article about efforts made to maintain literacy during the Great Depression. For younger readers, it might be hard to imagine the need to preserve the ability to read, especially in today's information age. During the Great Depression, however, great heroes in The Pack Horse Library Initiative, traveled to rural locations to…

I recently read a fun article about jobs that no longer exist, and it got me thinking about the continued value of the work of writing. The article reminds all of us how we preserve history and memories through our stories. What would happen if we didn't write stories about the past? Would we forget how far…

Join me at the 21st Annual Central Florida Family History Conference on Saturday, November 4th, 2017, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for one of the largest family history conferences on the East Coast of the United States. This regional event at Olympia High School in Orlando brings world-class speakers from all over the country to…

Patricia at FAPA Conference Authors and publishers from across the country came together recently to learn more about all things related to writing, publishing, selling, and promoting their books at the Florida Authors and Publishers Association's (FAPA) two-day conference in Orlando. Congratulations to dear friend Bob Lucas for receiving FAPA's Founder's Award, given to a long-standing member…

At times, we work. Other times, we play. And sometimes, we get to both work and play at the same time. This week in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island was that kind of time. My husband Bob and I stayed in the most wonderful B&B, The Fairbanks House, an 8,000-square-foot 1885 Italianate villa owned and operated…

Has a book you’ve read changed your life? I recently looked at one of my favorite sources for book-related news and reviews, BookPage.com, and came across Journeys: Young Readers’ Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives, a compilation of fifty-two letters from young readers, grades four through twelve, to the authors of the books that changed…

Earlier this month, we shared an article about a man who waited more than twenty years to read a letter his grandmother wrote to him during the last solar eclipse. We invited you to take advantage of the upcoming total solar eclipse and write a letter to your own loved ones. The eclipse is finally upon…