The New Madrid Tremors Continue

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Early December 16, 1811, the destructive New Madrid Earthquakes began. For more than two months people in southeast Missouri, northeast Arkansas, and western Kentucky and Tennessee endured fear and privations from three major earthquakes (above 7.5 on the Richter Scale) and another 20 almost as bad. Many of the roughly 2,000 smaller ones disturbed their days and nights. Eighteen of the quakes were so strong that they caused church bells to ring on the East Coast and made dishes fall from shelves in such places as the Executive Mansion. Seismologists still monitor the New Madrid Seismic Zone. They have detected … Continue reading →

Celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday

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This year Janeites around the world are celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday (December 16, 1775). Although she wrote only six polished novels before her death in 1817, she has become one of the most popular novelists in history. (If Pride and Prejudice is the only title you can remember, refresh your memory at https://carolynmulford.com/writing/vacationing-with-jane-austen.) She may be more popular now than ever. That’s partly because the movie and TV adaptations of her books over the last 30 years have drawn and delighted readers not doing assignments. Another factor has been the proliferation of novels imagining the life of Austen’s characters … Continue reading →

Creating a Canine Character

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To help a friend worrying about “interviewing” pets for a community newsletter, I dug up my old guest blog for Wicked Cozy Writers on portraying a dog as a supporting character. Here’s an adaptation. Planning Show Me the Murder, I spent weeks envisioning three old friends reunited in their hometown: Phoenix, a wounded former CIA operative; Annalynn, a do-gooder whose husband died in a sleazy motel; and Connie, a struggling singer/music teacher. Mid book, a Belgian Malinois named Achilles popped up as a plot point—the only witness to a crime. Phoenix finds him shot, starved, and tied to a tree. … Continue reading →

Celebrating July 4th by Making Ice Cream

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In the 19040s, we celebrated July 4th by making ice cream. My mother saved extra milk, cream, and eggs to mix and heat with the junket, sugar, and vanilla.  She started soon after breakfast because the mix needed to set. Meanwhile my father cleaned up the green-painted wood freezer keg, and my younger sister and I brought a panful of cattle salt from the barn. Then the three of us took the pickup to the ice house in town to buy a 50-pound block of ice. My father used ice tongs to carry the ice to the pickup and, once … Continue reading →

4-H and Sewing in the 1940s

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4-H came to my rural community about two years after World War II ended. We had no other youth organizations available, so 4-H, led by two wonderful (female and male) county Extension agents, made a huge impact on us children—and our parents. As I recall, the whole community met at New Hope School (grades one through eight) to hear the agents describe the program and recruit adult volunteers to lead projects teaching practical skills ranging from sewing to raising calves. Then all the dozen or so kids nine or older signed up, elected officers (an unfamiliar task), and took the … Continue reading →

I Am a River

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Each week I lunch with a group of friends and discuss a topic. Last time the coordinator posed this question: What is the shape of your life? The answers included a rectangle, a vase, a cloud, and an octagon. Usually I wing it, but this time I wrote my response. The Shape of My Life I am a river, Birthed in a puddle, Nourished by rain, Pushed to overflow And grow broader And deeper.   Springs and creeks fed my flow. Widening waters gathered force, Thrusting me against unyielding barriers And cascading me over rocky falls.   Other streams joined … Continue reading →

Where to Find My Books

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While only one of my books, Show Me the Sinister Snowman, continues to be published in print and electronic editions, several of my novels are available from online sellers. Most of the copies are used, but columbiabooksonline.com, my supportive local bookstore, has a small stock of new Show Me hardbacks and paperbacks. I also have a few copies of all my novels except The Feedsack Dress, my historical children’s book, and Show Me the Murder, the first in my mystery series featuring a former spy returning   home and solving crimes with old friends. Fortunately e-editions still exist. Barnes and Noble … Continue reading →

Looking Forward 60 Years Ago

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Reminders of my attempts to start my writing career arrived last Christmas. A friend, Joyce Campbell, sent me letters I had written to her while we were serving as Peace Corps Volunteers (teaching English) in Ethiopia from September 1962 to July 1964 and in the months after we returned home (Chattanooga, Tennessee, for her and Kirksville, Missouri, for me) after traveling through Europe. On December 21, 1964, I wrote, “Has anything turned up for you yet? People don’t seem terribly impressed with Peace Corps experience for job qualifications it seems to me. I’m going down to the University Placement Bureau … Continue reading →

Mid-Continent Earthquakes, Past and Future

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About 2:30 a.m. December 16, 1811, an earthquake threw people in New Madrid, Missouri Territory, out of bed and crumbled brick houses and cabin chimneys, forced the Mississippi River to run backward and change course, disturbed sleep along most of the East Coast, and toppled dishes from shelves in the White House. That marked the beginning of some of the most powerful, prolonged quakes the United States has experienced. These weren’t the first in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is centered near where Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky come together. Geologists and other scientists have found indications that powerful … Continue reading →

The Turkey That Bullied Me

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I grew up with animals as friends, the first being our dog Roamer. He and I wandered around the yard, the barnyard, and the garden. Roamer barked at squirrels and chased rabbits from our vegetables. He made me ponder one of life’s great puzzles: Is it okay to sympathize with Peter Rabbit in the story but condemn him when your own carrots are at risk? Roamer knew not to chase our chickens or cows or pigs, and he joined me in playing with an orphaned lamb and the kittens whose parents kept the barn free of mice. What he didn’t … Continue reading →

How Editors Stay in Style

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If you’re an editor, you know the importance of the new 1192-page 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Since the University of Chicago Press published the first edition in 1906, other book publishers, many periodicals, and now electronic publications have accepted Chicago as the primary guide. Even publishers who write their own style manuals, or settle for a pamphlet on which Chicago guidelines they don’t accept, study the latest edition to adjust editorial styles. Without style manuals, we would rely on writers’ personal preferences and editors’ memories to be consistent on thousands of disputed questions. The two most … Continue reading →

In Praise of “Said”

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When I began the transition from nonfiction to fiction, writing dialogue seemed easy. Then my critique readers pointed out my lack of skill in using tags, the words that identify the speaker. In general, tags precede (Mary said, “You’re late. Get going.”), lie within, (“You’re late,” Mary said. “Get going.”), or follow the dialogue (“You’re late. Get going,” Mary said.).  Even if only two people are talking, readers need reminders of which one’s speaking after a few exchanges. The writer fails if the reader has to go back to figure out who’s saying what. Rule of thumb: When the reader … Continue reading →