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Month: April 2020

Author of the Last Straw: An Interview with Karen Kelly Boyce

How did you first conceive the idea for Sisters of the Last Straw?

Sisters of the Last Straw The Case of the Haunted Chapel

It is so strange how God works. I had a Bible study with a number of women for about thirty years. We were great friends and one night at our meeting we started laughing about how we all should have been nuns. Looking around at the five women in the group who are all good women, I had to laugh. We each have our own foibles and personality quirks. I laughed and said that we would probably be kicked out of any order because of our bad habits. Another woman said that we would probably have to form our own order. After much laughter and silly plans for the order, one of the women said, “We better call it the Sisters of the Last Straw.” I wrote my first story about the nuns for those women. Then I decided to write a children’s book to teach children that while all people have faults, we can love God and each other. That is how the Sisters of the Last Straw were created. 

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Bonnets, Baskets, & Bunnies: An Easter 2020 Linkup

Bonnets, Baskets & Bunnies

Amid the odd circumstances of this Easter, we’ve tried to keep our traditions. Streaming religious services isn’t the same as being there, but I’m grateful we’re at least able to do that.

We prayed a modified Stations of the Cross that became part scavenger hunt when the 7-year-old hung the fourteen photos randomly around the house. We made Resurrection eggs (search Pinterest for examples), baked Hot Cross Muffins (found here) and Paska bread, dyed eggs, and in place of the Easter flowers we usually buy, my daughter picked us a bouquet of violets. We’ll re-read a new favorite Easter book, The Other Side of Easter by Beth Gully.

It’s all lovely. But there’s a subtle undercurrent that something’s not right.

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Pandemic Reads

I invited Catholic Writers Guild members on the group’s Facebook page to recommend one of their books for reading during this pandemic. What follows are their recommendations, in the author’s words. It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Choose a fun escape, something to expand your knowledge, fiction that edifies, or a means of deepening your faith.

Also check out this list of reading recommendations at Dappled Things: “Literature in the Time of COVID-19”.

Links below are to Amazon, but you can find most, if not all, at additional retailers and some on additional ebook platforms – maybe even on audiobook.

Pandemic Reading Picks from Catholic Writers Guild Authors #CatholicsatHome Share on X 1 Comment