Tag: avid reader

  • Angels on the Ceiling

    A Christmas Bonus Excerpt from my novel Misty Dreams, Chapter 4. 🎄✨ Manhattan, Christmas Eve Richard Kelly had never been a believer. At least, not since he was five years old and still believed Santa Claus was a kindhearted old man from the North Pole who traveled the world bringing gifts to children. Angels, to…

  • THE FORGOTTEN LETTER: A Short Story

    THE FORGOTTEN LETTER: A Short Story

    Image from Unsplash Summers are always busy for me, and writing often takes a back seat. But every now and then, a memory or feeling surfaces, and I find myself racing to the keyboard. This story is purely fictional, though inspired by memories of my mother. I lingered in the entryway, clutching the ring of…

  • WRITING LIFE: Excerpt

    WRITING LIFE: Excerpt

    I’m excited to share another excerpt of my work-in-progress, the Misty Dreams prequel. This scene is written from the perspective of twelve- and thirteen-year-old Richard and Tony. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into their world! Shards of golden light from the low-hanging sun burst between the tall buildings, casting a warm orange glow over…

  • From Notebooks to Keyboard: How I Wrote My Way Into the Digital Age

    From Notebooks to Keyboard: How I Wrote My Way Into the Digital Age

    As a child I was fascinated by anything associated with the writing craft, from notebooks and pens, to keyboards. Even before I could identify it as my passion, I was enamored with writing. Back then, the personal computer was the stuff of science fiction. Typewriters were the real deal—bulky, mechanical beasts like the one in…

  • Remembering the drive-in theater: the best pajama fun

    Shenandoah Valley, VA 2002 When earlier this month I read Janet Dailey’s novel, Blue Moon Haven, I was transported back to my childhood. The book is a romance novel about a woman who moves to a small Alabama town with her two foster children, where she takes on the arduous job of reviving an old…

  • Hold on to your memories

    by Josephine Strand (first published in Memoirabilia Magazine in 2016) How I wish there were a recycle bin in our brain for old memories to be stored in. Then, when we’re unable to fully recall a life experience, all we’d need to do is look for the missing ‘file; and ‘restore’ it to its original…

  • BOOK REVIEW

    TWO NICKELS by Michael F. DeConzo GENRE: Urban Fiction I don’t often post book reviews on my blog, but occasionally a book comes along that leaves a lasting impression on me, such that I feel I should share it with other readers. Two Nickels by Michael F. DeConzo was an unexpected gem. Although I haven’t…

  • Confessions of a late bloomer

    This article was first published in the online literary magazine Women Writers, Women’s Books (booksbywomen.org) My name is Josephine Strand and I’m the author of my first published romance novel, Misty Dreams, released in April 2021. I’m what is known as a literary late bloomer. Three years ago, I was a soon-to-be novelist past the…

  • Book Review: Of School and Women, by D.S. Marquis

    Of School and Women by D.S. Marquis is a riveting, nostalgic dive into the past. It’s brilliantly written and humorous, cleverly mingling cultural nostalgia with great life lessons. I wasn’t living in the United States during the 80s, but in all democratic countries the same fundamental changes in standards of living were taking place, and…

  • BOOK TALK: How I got hooked on reading

    When I was a young girl, the local library was one of my favorite places in which to spend the afternoon hours. It was before the internet, even before computers made it into our homes. It was where my friends and I would meet to do research for a school project, do our homework, or…