Merry Farmer's Blog, page 29

In Your Arms – Release Day!

It’s here! In Your Arms is finally officially here! I worked long and hard on this novel and I absolutely think it’s the best thing I’ve written yet. Why? Because I’ve learned so much about the craft and technicalities of writing since I first started publishing. But also, and perhaps even more so, because the […]

2013 Book #30 – Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

Wow! Anyone out there who thinks that reading non-fiction is boring, you need to sit down and read a book like Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking! Brains are such amazing things, and the stuff I learned about my brain and the way it fits—or doesn’t fit—into modern American […]

2013 Book #29 – The Best Man, by Kristan Higgins

Man, I love reading a really good book! That’s what makes life worth living. Especially when it’s a funny, moving, and very real book, like Kristan Higgins’ The Best Man. I heard Kristan speak at the RWA conference in Atlanta. I’d never read any of her books before, but after that speech—that fantastic speech in […]

Law and Order in the Old West

A big deal is made in any examination of the Old West of law and order. It’s hard to think about any Old West set-up without thinking about the sheriff…and outlaws. Whether he’s the white hat-wearing hero of the day or the crooked, corrupt misery in people’s lives, the lawman is a key western figure. […]

Sarah Sunshine, Revisited

It’s almost here! In Your Arms is almost here! (actually, it is here, but not officially). But I’ve got one more book from my Montana Romance series to revisit before we switch to all Lily and Christian all the time. But first, I just have to brag. I mean, how could I not? Sarah Sunshine […]

How Many Books Should You Write Per Year?

A couple of weeks ago I read a thought-provoking article that raised the question of whether, in the new world order of publishing, authors are attempting to write too many books per year. The article was a well thought out discussion of the possibility that too many authors are substituting quantity for quality and that […]

Being a Teacher in 1897

So by now you know that my next novel, In Your Arms, is coming out later this month. Therefore, I’ve been gearing my History Monday posts toward the issues and facts that you’re going to run into when you read it. Last week I talked about the misguided effort to “educate the savages” at places […]

Fool for Love – Revisited

Continuing my November retrospective leading up to the release of the third full-length book in my Montana Romance series, In Your Arms, today I’m sharing my favorite scene from Fool for Love. Man, it was hard to pick just one scene that I love in this book! Eric and Amelia make me laugh and sigh […]

Words of Advice to Writers: Know Thyself

“Know Thyself”. Those words of Delphic wisdom carved into the Temple of Apollo have been a part of the bedrock of philosophy for thousands of years. They’re so simple, and yet they can be interpreted in so many ways. A 10th century encyclopedia of Ancient Greek knowledge claims that they are a reminder to the […]

The Sweet Tragedy of Indian Schools in the Late 19th Century

There are a few topics in my forthcoming novel, In Your Arms, that walk the line of being highly controversial. None more so than my heroine, Lily Singer’s background. Lily is Native American, but as a small child she was taken from her tribe to be raised at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, […]