A.L. Sowards's Blog, page 12

Why you should have a fire extinguisher or How I torched my kitchen the day after I sold it.

My husband and I recently sold our house and bought a new one. A week ago, I was at the “aggressive packing” phase. We had keys to the new house, I had boxes on every flat surface in the kitchen, and I was waiting for the dishwasher to complete its cycle so I could finish […]

Things not to do if you’re an agent in a Nazi-occupied country

This past summer I read a nonfiction book about several British agents who went into France during WWII as part of the Special Operations Executive. SOE was created by Winston Churchill to “set Europe ablaze.” Its agents organized local resistance, gathered intelligence, and performed acts of sabotage. (You know, all the type of stuff I […]

A Post About Alexanders

This blog post revolves around two very different subjects that have come up for me this month. Their connection: the name Alexander. The first is Alexander the Great. My husband and I both enjoy history. While I tend to study more recent history, my husband’s passion is for ancient history. Recently we watched a four-part documentary […]

Guest Post: How to Prevent Writer’s Block

Today I have a guest post written by another blogger, Courtney Gordner. Thank you, Courtney, for being part of my blog, and thank you for the great ideas! Writers’ block can be a cruel thing, regardless of whether you’re a blogger, screenwriter, or novelist. Sometimes writers feel as if the words are flowing from their […]

Advice for Aspiring Writers

I’ve had a few requests for a post like this, so here it is! I don’t consider myself an expert on writing—I’ve only written 3 ½ books, after all—but I hope these tips help others. This post is mostly for fiction writers, but I think some of the suggestions will apply to other types of […]

The 69th Anniversary of D-day

Last year I posted some pictures my sister took of the WWII memorial in Washington DC. Now that another anniversary of D-day has rolled around, I thought I’d post those pictures and captions again. I also want to say thank you to all who served during WWII or during other conflicts, and to those who serve our […]

Happy Memorial Day and some Sworn Enemy Links

Memorial Day I know it’s not Memorial Day yet, but the weekend is about to start, and I expect most people won’t be at their computers on Monday, so I wanted to post this today. Memorial Day has its origins in the American Civil War. For many years, Decoration Day was a time to visit […]

4th Annual LDS Writer Blogfest

On Perfection and Motherhood I have three-year-old twins. They’re adorable, but they’re also sometimes about as much as I can handle. Motherhood isn’t an easy job, especially when you love your children and really want to be a perfect mother. In my church, we believe the commandment the Savior gave to “be thou perfect” wasn’t […]

Storymakers Wrap-up

I had a fun weekend hanging out with some of my writing friends and meeting new people at the tenth annual LDStorymakers Writer’s Conference in Provo, Utah. The highlight of the weekend was listening to Anne Perry’s keynote address and attending her class called ”Fine Tune Your Writing.” This post is mostly about the weekend. A Few Items for […]

Sweeney Todd, Sherlock Holmes, and Stephen Ambrose

A friend of mine asked me about the name of one of my characters, Sherlock. He’s in Sworn Enemy, a British medic and a paratrooper, and his real name is Richard Holmes. I thought it would be fun to explain how he got his name, in case anyone else is curious. A few years ago [...]