Notes from the journal……….fictional world: a unique landscape for the reader to enter…….short story: one incident or revelation…..novel: needs overarching story, deep and big enough to encompass ongoing development over time of related characters and themes
An exercise from a workshop/list of words describing childhood:
pine cones and saffron….red dirt and cotton plants….crushed crepe myrtle pods and blackberries….the crook of Granddaddy’s cane….screen porches and Eva’s daylilies….bright green mold on red bricks….dominos…iced tea….Aunt Lillie’s garden….gold fish and gravel paths…lantern-jawed men…biscuits and bacon grease….hanging clothes on the line….the old rugged cross….nearer my God to thee….candles for souls glimmering….
It’s poetry without trying from memory through the senses……..
Karleen Koen — writing life 
Recently I discovered your books and love them. I am an historical nut, so they melded into my interests and geneology research. The problem is that I am having trouble letting those rich characters go. Now what about Barbara in France and her life in the French court? Since I am new to your writing, have you written your book on the court of Louis XIV? Thanks and good luck to you on this memorable day. There is hope for us finally after the nightmare of the Bush years. Ginger
I also am having trouble letting go of the characters in the previous books. I would love for you to write a book that begins where the third book left off (Alice and Richard) and ends where your first book began.
The meeting of Richard and Roger and the Prince Soisson (? sp).. how Diana became the vain woman she is. The three sons who died in the war.
Have you thought about writing that sequel?
The fifth book, now that my Louis XIV book is nearly done, will pick up the story that Alice and Richard began in Dark Angels.
However, I doubt I will do a year after year series of books. There has to be a dramatic situation for a character to achieve or overcome for a book to really be interesting, I think. The high and low points in our lives are often our own dramatic situations.
If you’ll go to one of my blog entries called Psychic Order, I talk about how the order of the stories seems to be calling to me.
And thank you, Diana, for your interest.