Donna Hechler Porter

In my upcoming release, The Brooch, my hero comes home from the war with a severely damaged and infected arm. Prior medical help, for army surgeons were not known for the skill, has not only offered no help, but it has actually worsened his condition. His return home brings him to Elizabeth Johns McQueen and her healing hands. She trained under her father, a physician in the British army, who was better than the average army surgeon/barber.

If you have read my previous blogs, or talked to me in person, you know Catherine Cookson is my all-time favorite author. I cycled through every book I could find while in late junior high and early high school. When I went to Canada with my then fiancee to visit his parents, I found more Cookson books I could not find in the states (as she is an English author). I quickly snapped them up, happy as a clam that I had others.

On my last last blog I shared my Chocolate Buttermilk Pie recipe, which is great comfort food even if its not good for your waistline. I mentioned I froze my pie crusts ahead of time so that I always had them handy. Doing so is a great time-saver. So this week, after several requests, I am sharing my frozen pie crust dough recipe. And, let me say up front, I have no idea where I got this recipe from, so credit, unfortunately, cannot be given.

I love poems and silly rhymes. Can you tell? And unfortunately, I know LOTS of them after teaching school for a hundred years and then raising two boys. I also love pies. Now that I have gone back to making dough balls for my crust and freezing them, I can have them more often. Or, not so often as the case, and my waistline, may be. I also have this penchant for old recipes - Jeff Davis Pie, Watergate Salad (which I wrote about here), Buttermilk Pie.

Two weeks ago the Porters did the Great Room Shuffle once again. Two adult boys in one bedroom just wasn’t cutting the mustard anymore. In the process, I lost my “office” room and am now back in the dinette in the kitchen. It’s not so bad. I get to look out the backyard. I can open the windows a tad (not too far or Fuego will push through the screen . . .

. . . You see, after almost 40 years of suffering from large, painful breasts, and thanks to the generosity of my mother who threw part of my inheritance my way and early, I had a breast reduction on August 1st. I really NEVER thought that day would come. I was especially distraught when insurance refused to pay for it about two months back. It appeared, according to their guidelines, that they would never pay for it. That’s Cigna for you . . .

I am glad I am not a monarch. But more on that in a minute. I have been watching CW’s Reign the past few months on Netflix. Now let me be clear – this show is NOT for the faint of heart. Thus, the “fast forward” button (thank you Netflix and whoever invented the remote) gets a lot of use. The show has blood, murder, and sex. I just pressed the fast-forward button past those parts and watched the tale. Even then, there were at least two times I turned it off and vowed not to

I was introduced to Belle Grove Plantation through Clarence John Laughlin’s book Ghosts Along the Mississippi. I was hooked from the first picture. Many times I would study the pictures in Laughlin’s book. I would try to imagine what the house looked like while it thrived and people loved it. I would try to imagine what the view from the front porch was like for the people who lived there.

I have always wanted to live in an old house with history (although I draw the line at ghosts.) I also wanted said house to have lots of “junk” in the attic, the closets, the garden sheds. I picture myself going through all the “junk,” which would really be little treasures along the way. All with a history. All now . . . mine . . .

I don’t watch a lot of television. Having said that, I will admit I have had a run lately on good quality shows – Poldark, When Calls the Heart, Victoria, and Mercy Street. These are all, of course, on PBS with the exception of When Calls the Heart which is a Hallmark show. So yea – you see the sort of stuff I watch. Not much different than the kind of stuff I read. So it was a little odd when a friend hooked me on This Is Us. Me watching a major network show is like seeing

A writer never knows when a character will pop onto the page and steal the scene. One such character was Grayson Cayle in Keeping Secrets. One minute the world was Grayson free – the next he was there and an alternative love interest for Mary McKechnie . . . However, none of my characters, thus far, have taken over stories in quite the same way with quite the same fanfare as Penelope the goose in Keeping Secrets.

. . . As for the history of Watergate Salad, most folks think it has something to do with the Watergate Scandal which burst forth during the Nixon Administration in the mid-70s. The real origin of the name, however, is a bit more obscure and sketchy. The dish was created by Kraft Corporate Affairs in 1975, the same year that pistachio pudding arrived on store shelves. Not even the Kraft company can substantiate the origin of the name “Watergate Salad" . . .

Yep, apparently there is no longer any room for small businesses on Facebook either. Beginning in January they will start charging for any sort of postings on “business” type pages. This includes pages like my author page. The jury seems to be out whether they will allow advertising of sorts on personal pages, but it seems unlikely they will do so.

It’s the little things that count! I have this morning ritual. I eat egg burritos, hopefully have a clementine or something similar, and drink my coffee. A perfect ritual involves coconut oil in the coffee, but right now it’s not perfect. Sigh . . .

I read recently that Mary Higgins Clark works several books at one time. Never thought I could do that, but apparently I can as I not only wrote/edited nearly 10,000 words on Breaking Promises the past two days, but started another story at the same time. I started a beginning scene with a shy young man, an outspoken young slip of a girl, and a Ossabaw Island Pig bent on destruction. Ossabaw Island Pigs, of course, are rare breeds that are no longer used but can be found at

When I was a kid, Columbus Day was the next holiday after Labor Day. It meant another vacation day. The last before the Thanksgiving break almost six weeks away. That’s a long time for a kid. We were taught in school that Columbus did a remarkable feat. These days, not only is . . .

I grew up reading both Cookson and Holt from a young age. I have literally read all of their books, some twice. They were, without a doubt (and along with Phyllis Whitney) my favorite authors as a high school teen and beyond. Holt’s ability to create a world of gothic suspense is unparalleled, and Cookson’s ability to transform her character’s, both male and female, is equaled only by a few.

In Rowan’s Lady, the first in her Clan Graham Series, Suzan Tisdale has created the poignant story of two lost souls. Rowan Graham’s wife, Kate, died four years ago in the Black Death that decimated Europe and Scotland. Although theirs was an arranged marriage, Rowan fell deeply in love with Kate. On her deathbed she makes him promise he will marry again, but he is unable to do so. He throws himself into raising their young daughter and rebuilding his clan . . .

Well, I’ve now read 4 Suzan Tisdale books in a row. Whew! I’m not obsessive, believe me. (Yea, right!) But when I do find a new author I like, I will tend to read straight through his/her books. But, that’s enough of my personal foibles. I loved, loved, loved McKenna’s Honor.

In this third installment of The Clan MacDougall  series, Suzan Tisdale again takes us into the world of Clan McDougall in early Scotland. Tisdale’s plotting and character arcs get better with each novel. Wee William’s Woman is no exception.