a Blog – By Betsy Chess
Animal Farm
I’ve always had animals in my life. Growing up on a ranch in Santa Paula, California, I was surrounded by dogs, cats, chickens, lambs, calves, and horses. Even now as a (ahem) middle-aged adult, I have a dog, a cat, and eight backyard chickens. Animals have always...
The Road to Damascus Moment
I previously have written that one of the key experiences which led me to write my book, Daughter of the Land, came at the end of February 2020. I was invited to speak at the Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula at an event celebrating the library’s founding by...
Read in your lap, not on your laptop!
There is a war today for the soul of readers. Do you prefer reading digitally on a Kindle, Nook, etc., or do you read from a printed book? I have a foot in both camps. I find I do most of my fiction reading on a Kindle. Regardless of a book’s length, I like that it...
Crashing the Writer’s Block
I have been incubating this book for a long time. Why was I hesitating? After all, I was a trained historian and steeped in family and local lore, but two relatives as well as others in the field had already published books on family and regional history. What could...
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