By Cheryl and Mel Hodde (Hannah Alexander) Cheryl: Are you working on a medical scene, or a full medical novel? Are you writing a contemporary novel or historical? That will make a huge difference in the research you need to do. We once worked very hard on an historical novel set in 1864, in which…

Yesterday was party time! It was St. Patrick’s Day, when people like to wear green and celebrate. Some of my friends back in Missouri wore green. I told them I would, and then I forgot when I got dressed and I was too lazy to change. So here’s my green. I remember this day so well.…

We have some colloquialisms in the South, and “hunker down” is one of them. It means get out of the way and brace yourself, kind of like this armadillo is supposed to do when danger draws near. Unfortunately, he doesn’t. I mean, God made that armor to protect him, right? But I’ve never seen one…

Seven years ago today, our big black and white boy, Data, was living his best life as an only cat, receiving all our love. We had just moved to Nebraska from Missouri a few months before, and were settling in. Then one night the forecast was for temps below zero, and we discovered a tiny…

Our new church held a game day on Saturday, and we played the (Still)Newlywed Game. Mel and I volunteered to be contestants, and come to findout, at 28 years of marriage, we had been together the shortest amountof time. So here we were, competing against older couples who had a lotmore experience. I’m not a…

I was sitting with one of my best friends yesterday having tacos when she got a text telling her that her house had just sold. I mean, it wasn’t even supposed to be on the market until today! I knew she was putting it up for sale, but I thought we might have at least…

Elaborate celebrations seem to be increasingly popular these days, and I admire those who cook all day for family members and friends to have a traditional meal. There is comfort in that tradition, and who doesn’t love a good Thanksgiving meal?We’ve done this often in the past, but with Mel’s job taking up many of…

Have you ever had a perfect day? We haven’t been to the zoo in over eight months. That’s been okay for us, since…you know, it’s Phoenix. But now that the weather has simmered down a little, and is only getting into the 80s, we’ve emerged from our hibernation. Yesterday we were needing an animal fix,…

After months of excitement, Mel and I attended a very important class reunion of mine two weeks ago back in Missouri, where we both grew up. I had a small class of 44 members, and a great many of us grew close and kept in touch often after graduation. That closeness became obvious when we…

sing beside Christina in our church choir. She has a beautiful voice but is reluctant to sing solo. Last week she asked our church for prayer because she was going into the hospital for clinical trials—I discovered she has stage 4 colon cancer. So I prayed for her until Sunday night and then asked about…