Author: janetsm

In November 2025, I published Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. In the fall of 2025, I published a devotional book: I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. I write North Carolina local history and Southern American colonial historical fiction. I enjoy doing extensive research as well as the writing that research supports. My stories and novels-in-progress are about the common people. I'm the author of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and a vintage postcard book titled The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Mudhouse Sabbath

I just read Mudhouse Sabbath, by Lauren F. Winner. Dr. Winner is a Jewish Christian. In Mudhouse Sabbath, she explores various facets of the Jewish faith and practices in which she grew up and makes comparisons with her current Christian faith. Each of the 11 chapters looks at a different practice or ritual, including keeping the Sabbath, prayer, fasting, candle lighting, and weddings.

Dr. Winner misses some of the practices that gave her comfort when she was a practicing Jew, and she looks for ways to incorporate them or similar activities into her life now as a Christian.

Mudhouse Sabbath is an easy read in that it is written in layman’s terms and in a personal style that has the feel of sitting and having a conversation with Dr. Winner. Although it can be read quickly, it will leave the reader with a number of things to ponder.

Rocky River Presbyterian Church near Concord, North Carolina, will begin a Lenten study tomorrow based on Mudhouse Sabbath. It promises to be a thought-provoking study as we examine some of our practices and beliefs as compared to those of the Jewish faith out of which Christianity grew.

Another rejection

Another rejection. Such is the life of a freelance writer. I submitted a devotional to The Upper Room last June. After eight months, I had forgotten about it. Yesterday I received an e-mail telling me my piece had not been selected for use in the daily devotional publication.

The devotional I submitted in June was about Mary and Martha in the Bible and my sister and me. The way my sister and I interact with one another and many of our personality traits remind me of Mary and Martha.

I am disappointed that my work was not accepted for publication. It would have been helpful if I had been given a reason for the rejection so I would know where I failed. The number of submissions The Upper Room receives prevents critiques.

I will probably try again sometime, when I think I have something worthwhile to contribute. It takes patience to try to write for magazines or daily devotional publications. The lead time is months long or even one year. Like happened in this instance, one can forget about a submission by the time a piece is accepted or rejected by the publisher or editor.

John Grisham’s Birthday

Today is John Grisham’s birthday. I have enjoyed reading his books, and I got to hear him speak in Charlotte a few years ago. He is an entertaining speaker, just as he is an entertaining writer. I find hope in the story of how he couldn’t even give away copies of his first book. He traveled around The South with copies of the book in his trunk. The first bookstore that agreed to try to sell his book has the honor of being the site for his book launches. I love that!

I read that John Grisham has developed a beef allergy and has said that he would kill for a cheeseburger. I ate a cheeseburger and homemade potato chips at Jake’s Good Eats in Charlotte yesterday in homage to John Grisham.

Thank you, Mr. Grisham, for all the hours of enjoyment your books have given me. It must be gratifying to know that millions of people eagerly await the release of each of your books.

I aspire to be a published novelist. I take heart in knowing that even authors as successful as John Grisham had a bumpy road in the beginning.

A Tribute to James A. Michener

I meant to write a tribute to James A. Michener yesterday in honor of the 108th anniversary of his birth. One of his novels, Centennial, is one of my all-time favorite books. Since reading it in 1975, I have wished I could write such a book.

I loved the way the second chapter started by telling about the formation of the world, the way it talked about the Earth’s layers, how Colorado was formed, and how the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado fit into the grand scheme of things. It was a powerful visual. I loved the characters in the book and how it carried through from generation to generation. Mr. Michener managed to weave geography and history together in a way that resonated with me. What a gift!

Forty years later, I recall more details of Centennial than most of the books I’ve read in the last year.

Free classes at public library

I have taken advantage of two free classes at the Harrisburg Branch of the Cabarrus County Public Library System recently. You can’t beat FREE!

I took a PowerPoint class because I think that skill will eventually come in handy with my writing. When I speak at a library or bookstore, it would be nice to be able to have a PowerPoint presentation to offer for the event.

The Skype class a couple of weeks ago was informative. It’s something I’d like to be able to do with far-flung friends and relatives, and it is a tool that might be advantageous in my writing. I can see that a literary agent might want to communicate via Skype. Many authors offer to “meet” with book clubs using Skype.

Last year I took a free Microsoft Excel class at the public library and almost immediately put that new skill to use by creating a tri-fold brochure about my books.

The public library is much more than a repository for books! If you haven’t visited your local public library lately, you need to “check it out!”

Top of the Mountain Fiction Contest

I’m happy to announce that I have entered my unpublished historical novel, The Spanish Coin, in the 2015 Top of the Mountain Fiction Contest held by the Northern Colorado Writers! Finalists will be notified on or about March 1. I’ll keep you posted.

I submitted the first 20 pages of the manuscript along with a three-page synopsis. The submission fee was $25.

This is the first contest in which I’ve entered my novel manuscript, so it is an exciting step.

Unbroken read by Rocky River Readers

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, was the book discussed last night by Rocky River Readers Book Club. We met at Rocky River Presbyterian Church.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, although I plan to do so. Unbroken is a powerful book! I read it last year and many details from it are still vivid in my mind. Louis Zamperini was an amazing man. His rough and tumble childhood and teenage years set him up for a life of trouble. Track and field gave him discipline and self-confidence. Everything in his early years in some way prepared him for his horrible World War II years.

Many of you have probably seen the movie. I urge you to also read the book. It is another masterpiece by Laura Hillenbrand, who also wrote Seabiscuit.

A Tribute to “The Bard” – Robert Burns

Yesterday marked the 256th anniversary of the birth of “The Bard” of Scotland, Robert Burns. He is beloved in Scotland and his birthday is still marked there and in Scottish circles around the world with Robert Burns Dinners on his birthday.

I’ve started trying to mark various writers’ birthdays by preparing their favorite foods; however, I did not attempt to make haggis yesterday! I understand Burns’ favorite food were haggis, neeps, and tatties. I’ve eaten haggis in Scotland (“when in Rome…) and it wasn’t too bad as long as I blocked out of my mind what some of the ingredients were. There’s no way I’m going to make it. For starters, where does one purchase a sheep’s stomach?

Last night we dined on mince, neeps, and tatties and remembered Robert Burns. After supper I got out my dulcimer and attempted to play “Call the Yowes to the Knowes.” It’s one of the many Burns poems that has been set to music. I thought I had the dulcimer music for “Auld Lang Syne,” but I couldn’t find it.

Oh – mince is ground beef crumbled and cooked with chopped onions and a small amount of rolled oats. Neeps are turnips. Tatties are potatoes.

Haggis… well, you don’t want to know what that is. A Scottish friend was proud of me for eating haggis when I was over there. He said one must lower his or her voice a couple of octaves when saying, “I’m a haggis eater!” It got to be quite a joke between us. Scots have a great wit about them when you get to know them.

A local history talk

Yesterday my sister and I conducted our fourth (and last) Local and Rocky River Presbyterian Church History Talk and Tour. We had these monthly, September through November, skipped December, and then started again in January. Response has fluctuated. It was worth a try. I spent hours planning the topics. I had enough topics to last two or three years. No doubt, someone who has not attended any of the four talks so far will complain that we are discontinuing the programs. That’s human nature.

Yesterday’s topics were the Rev. Dr. John Makemie Wilson and the Rocky River Academy. Dr. Wilson was the pastor of Rocky River and Philadelphia Presbyterian Churches in Cabarrus and Mecklenburg Counties for 30 years in the early decades of the 19th century. He served as teacher at Rocky River Academy for much of that time. Completing their studies at Rocky River Academy prepared the students for entrance in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Twenty-five of the academy’s students went on to become Presbyterian ministers. One of them, the Rev. Dr. Robert Hall Morrison, was a founder and the first president of Davidson College.

The three-part series of local history columns I wrote about the Rocky River Academy for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper came in handy as I prepared for yesterday’s program.

Last night I spent some time editing the manuscript of my historical novel, The Spanish Coin, in preparation to submit it in a writing competition. More on that later.

Postcard captions in dribs and drabs

The title for today’s blog posting came to me and triggered a question in my mind. Where or how did that saying originate? It seems that dribs dates back to the 17th century in some English, Irish, and Scottish dialects and meant “an inconsiderable quantity” or sort of like “drip.” The origin of drab in conjunction with drib isn’t as clear. It meant a “small debt or sum of money in England in the early part of the 19th century. I must admit, though, that I thought it was “drips and drabs” until I looked it up a few minutes ago. The joke is on me! It just goes to show that sometimes I think I know what I’m talking about but I actually don’t. At least I was using it correctly even though I wasn’t spelling or saying it correctly.

I had hoped to edit my historical novel manuscript, The Spanish Coin, for four hours today. (Anyone remember that Writing Plan of Action I posted about a few days ago?) Instead, a plumber was in the house working in various rooms for a couple of hours. It doesn’t take much to distract me. There was just no way I could settle down and get any uninterrupted time to edit that book between that disruption and then the aftermath of putting things back into cabinets and mopping the kitchen and bathrooms. I did not want to abandon my writing completely, so I did the research for and wrote nine vintage postcard captions in preparation for a possible piedmont North Carolina book for Arcadia Publishing. (My goal was to write two captions today.) I’ll keep you posted.