Monthly Archives: December 2015

A Little Nudge and Some Inspiration

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I have some great friends.

I got an email tonight from a wonderful friend who has been so supportive of me in the creation of this blog and the writing of this book.  Occasionally she drops little things here and there that let me know that she is thinking of me and that when (if!) this book is done, she’ll read it.  That’s at least one reader, right?

This exemplary friend read this quote and thought of me, you, us — all the Pioneer Girls:

A pioneer is not a woman who makes her own soap. She is one who takes up her burdens and walks toward the future. With vision and with courage she makes the desert bloom.
– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a historian whose focuses on women and private experience in history makes her a Pioneer Girl herself.  Dr. Ulrich is now a professor at Harvard University, and she is also known for another phrase you might have heard:

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

 So today I am thankful for friends who support me, pioneer women who walk toward the future, and all the little nudges that encourage us.

(Thanks, Pamela. ;))

“It is not a lie to say something nice to somebody.”

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Have you ever just been reading along, enjoying your novel, and been confronted with a profound truth?  That’s one of my favorite things.  Here’s one I found recently that I wanted to share with you.

Precious looked at the house.   It was not very large and she wondered how everybody could fit inside.  But she did not want to say anything about that, as people are usually proud of their houses and do not like other people (and that means us) to point out that their houses are too small, or too uncomfortable, or the wrong shape.

And so she said, “That’s a nice house, Teb.”

That was not a lie.  It is not a lie to say something nice to somebody.  You have to remember that you can usually find something good to say about anything if you look hard enough.  And it’s kind too, and Precious Ramotswe was a kind girl, as everybody knew.

Alexander McCall Smith
The Mystery of Meerkat Hill, p.24