Reading books as a child started me on a lifetime love affair with stories. My father and I would go to estate sales and look for books. We crawled under tables and pulled books out of drawers to put in a carton sold to us for a dollar or five at the most. My father was interested in history. I read anything I could hold in my hands. I had not yet decided what I liked to read. As I began choosing books and authors, I found I was branching way out of my rural Southern roots to learn from my reading. I realized I was looking for stories that could leave me thinking about the characters long after I finished the book. I wanted to know who they were and why they did what they did. Now that I am writing historical novels, my goal is to create my characters the way I like to read.
Tag Archives: books
Leara’s Lore #18: Where Do Writers Write?
To have a place to write is part of the writing process and takes consideration. My
writing place was not chosen haphazardly. I thought long and hard when I was
beginning to write as to where I could write. I tried many different scenarios. Ultimately, I
discovered that I could write just about anywhere I have a surface, a window, and time.
Leara’s Lore #17: Why There Are Book Clubs
The December meeting of the book club I attend is the one meeting when the women really dress up. There is the Christmas sweater bought in travels to Germany, a swanky scarf gotten at a local fair, a dress held for special occasions, and a red jacket with a Christmas wreath pen attached to the lapel. The hostess decorates every corner of the house with wreaths, angels, and even Christmas plates in the dining room breakfront. A collection of nutcrackers guards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms from the front door.
Leara’s Lore #16: Storytelling
Storytelling is central to why I write. My father told me stories as a child. He would ask for me to choose something in the room and then he would make up a story about that object. To test his abilities, I once chose a speck on the tile floor. I heard a story about how the mark got there and why it was important for the mark to stay as a way of remembering what happened on that day. Though I can’t remember the details of the story, I remember the message and the enjoyment of hearing my father share his creativity. He was my first storyteller.
Leara’s Lore #15: I’m Learning to Fly
As a girl of eight, I studied a flying squirrel. In my back yard I attempted to leap from a wooden table and try my wings. I wanted to fly, to soar through the sky and over the trees. I wanted Tinkerbell to sprinkle fairy dust and include me in the nightly flights to Neverland. In my dreams I flew. I glided. I soared.
But, in the light of day, I realized that I cannot fly..
Leara’s Lore #14: Conyers Book Festival
Book festivals have been around since 1485 when Frankfurt, Germany held its first trade fair. The printing press was active, and European booksellers began to come to Frankfurt to promote their books. Now, 540 years later, the Frankfurter Buchmesse welcomed 115,000 visitors from 153 countries, 4,300 exhibitors, with 7,500 media representatives covering 3,300 events during the five-day fair.
I haven’t attended the Frankfurt Fair, but I did participate in the Conyers Book Festival April 19. Some 54 authors brought their books and set up canopies with banners..
Leara’s Lore #11: For the Love of Horses
Writing a novel was hard work. The research needed to learn how to care for horses in the late 1800s was difficult. I did not have a lot of time. I began writing Spancil Hill in 2018. I finished it in 2023. It was published in 2024. I was teaching full time at UGA until 2020 so I could not devote time to the book until 2021. I enjoyed the research, learning about Irish history and culture in the late 1800s, and Shire horses.
I had finished the book and reread it to discover that I had to get four Shire horses from Galway to Boston and then New York in forty days
Leara’s Lore #10: Writing Friends for Decades
Forty-five years ago, Chuck Conner and I met at a writers’ conference held at Epworth-by-the-Sea on St. Simons Island, Georgia. We were both working full-time jobs and trying to write on the side. Chuck attended Emory at Oxford College and was accepted into Emory University School of Medicine on a full scholarship and graduated with..
Leara’s Lore #9: Book Signing at AthFest
As summer temperatures climb in Georgia, gardening and getting a much-needed walk must be done in the morning. Afternoons are set aside for writing, editing, and housekeeping, inside with air-conditioning. Saturday afternoon, though, I requested a slot during AthFest to sign copies of Spancil Hill between noon and two.
Leara’s Lore #8: Book Launch in Words and Pictures
My task as a writer is to create images out of words, to set scenes, to choose dialogue that will tell more of the story. I tossed about in my head for several days the argument of is “a picture worth a thousand words.” My resolution is that both writing and photos are important. As I display photos from the book launch, which are wonderful and have meaning mostly for me, I must attach context of the people and the photographers. There is more of a story here than just the photos.
Leara Rhodes 