Living Between the Lines

I went to “The Land of No Internet” (aka my great-grandparents’ farm) to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My friend Jason S. referred to it as media dry-out. But my friend Wendy G. flipped out a little over it. When I told her where I was going, her response was a stunned “WHAT?!”—as though she [...]

A few things that I’m thankful for on this Thanksgiving… My family…               The beauty of a storm from my Staton grandparents’ front porch on Gales Creek…               Having family roots that are anchored deep in Beaufort, NC (my Davis great-grandparents’ home)…       [...]

When I was an English major at Methodist College, I took a class on Southern Literature. It was probably my favorite lit class. And on the very first day, our professor—a recent transplant from Atlanta—asked us to describe the traits that make something or someone distinctively Southern. I wish I could find that list, but [...]

My Great-Granddaddy’s name was James Salter. Or at least it was until the life insurance man came out to the farm and began filling out the life insurance paperwork. The conversation went something like this: “Last name?” “Salter.” “Very good. First name?” “James.” “Okay. Middle name?” (Silence, followed by the sound of the ticking clock.) [...]

Today, I am again taking part in the Blog Carnival hosted by my sweet friend, Bridget Chumbley. You can find the Blog Carnival at her website. Our topic this week is “Community” and because I was raised in the South and in the country, I thought I’d give y’all another lesson that I learned in [...]

It’s getting to be THAT time of year… The holidays… When I’ll be packing my clothes, my dog, and my laptop into my car and going downeast to spend massive quantities of time in a single-wide trailer on our four acres at my Great Grandparents’ farm. Recently, I’ve been pondering the possibility of doing a series [...]

What a whirlwind this week has been! Right now, I am mini-vacationing at my parents’ home. And when I say “vacation” I mean it in the sense that I am working my tail off on my manuscript for the NaNoWriMo challenge. I just managed to travel to my parents’ house for a change of scenery [...]

I was raised by a wonderful, amazing family. Not that everything they did was “ok” and not that they were perfect, but we were getting by. My Grandmother, “Nanny” Helen, was wonderful for all of us and by the grace of God and my Nanny’s willingness to serve God, I was saved at the age [...]

I’m so excited about tomorrow’s guest post that I decided to give y’all a bit of a teaser for it today! Actually, today I’m giving y’all my introduction so that tomorrow, y’all can jump right into the guest post. So, who is my guest blogger? I got to the lunch table on my first day of [...]

The last week of October, my friend Stephanie Wetzel at The Red Clay Diaries talked me into taking part in the NaNoWriMo writing challenge. That means that I started a brand new novel at midnight on November 1 and by the end of the night on November 30, I must have 50,000 words written. If [...]