Sometimes they’re angry and sometimes they’re sad. Many times they simply want to ask if I’m happy now. Or say they hope I am. These are my readers, and they are men. They are the men who read my memoir, Sister of Silence. Not a few of them were once Read more
Denny Ervin was a bad man. Even his family said so. They loved him though, like most people do. After all, blood is blood. He wasn’t always bad, though—and maybe he still isn’t. Who can really say for sure? I can’t recall him being bad in school. Truth be told, Read more
If you’re an author living in today’s warp-speed world—unless you’re one of those reclusive J.D. Salinger types—you’d be crazy to turn down an opportunity to go on NBC’s Dateline or Dr. Phil. Well, even if you are a reclusive type, unless you have a rich uncle handing out greenbacks so Read more
While I’m traveling to and from the hospital taking care of a family member, my coauthor Geoff Fuller wrote this guest blog about Rachel Shoaf’s sentencing yesterday. Rachel, still 17, was sentenced as an adult to 30 years in prison. At the press conference held by Prosecutor Ashdown yesterday, I Read more
Silence can be golden—unless its presence is so loud, so abrasive, that it drowns out everything else in the room. One week later, Shelia Eddy’s guilty plea is still on our minds. Some people say they have cried for hours, others for days. Still others wake up from nightmares about Read more
I can’t say how many expressions passed across Shelia Eddy’s face from the time she walked into Judge Russell Clawges’ courtroom until she took her seat and began sobbing, but I can tell you she’s one of the most difficult people to read I’ve ever seen during the 25 years Read more
My sister Lisa died of a broken heart. She never got over losing our father—or feeling like she couldn’t measure up. I’m afraid we—her family—didn’t make it any easier for her. Many of us judged her, when we had no right. Especially when we didn’t even try to help her. Read more
One of the best rewards for writing—since it’s rarely the money—are the letters and emails I receive, like the following. Each one always contains some nugget of wisdom, and this one—from a Southern belle of just 76—contains many. It reminds us that for most women, life today is much better Read more
Many years ago as a young news reporter, I learned what happens when a government agency attempts to violate their employees’ right to free speech. They live to regret it. Almost without exception, it pays to be painfully honest when faced with a sensitive situation—such as the death of a Read more
No one saw a single smile from Shelia Eddy in court today. What we did see was a bespectacled teenager wearing an updo who looked much younger than when she last appeared in court. My own guess is that Eddy, who turned 18 on Sept. 28, got a quick lesson Read more