Stephanie Smith's Blog
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Aug.23.2012
My favorite self-published book is Brazos Bride by Caroline Clemmons. It is a romantic suspense novel set in 1870 in Palo Pinto County, Texas. Here is the plot:
Hope Montoya knows someone is poisoning her, but who? She suspects her mother was also poisoned and knows her father was...
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Nov.24.2011
I won a trip to Cabo san Lucas in 2004. My mother and I took a tour of the lagoon there, at the tip of the Baja California penensuila. The boat was a very small one for riding in the ocean, little more than a dinghy. However, the guide could hold the boat almost motionless in the...
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Oct.19.2011
My only memory of my Francis J Gamble, my great grandmother, is of a tall, frail old woman. She was appearently a lot tougher than she looked when she was in her 90s. She outlived two husbands. The second one died, well, that is the interesting part.
My great grandmother...
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Sep.22.2011
In celebration of LITQUAKE, I am writing about the time I heard Vincent Price read Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. I went to Texas Christian University as an under graduate. In an attempt to turn spoiled teenagers into civilized, responsible adults, they had a series of actors, writers,...
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Sep.14.2011
Human shaped vampires pale considerably when compared to the real thing: vampire bats. Now, most bats eat insects, including mosquitoes, or fruit. They are beneficial and should be left alone. In Mexico, Central America and South America, however, there live bats that drink...
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Aug.18.2011
A box of food can evoke so many emotions. For the hungry, it can bring relief, strength, and gratitude. For the proud, it can be a symbol of shame because they must except charity. For me, it brought a new view of things.
My Mamaw, my mother's mother, had died. That wasn't...
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Jun.22.2011
My favorite piece of lesbian literature was Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. That may not sound like lesbian literature, but it was. Everything Audre Lorde wrote was lesbian literature -- and African American literature, and feminist literature. You could read her shopping list and know here...
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May.25.2011
I was not born when WWII happened, so I have no direct knowledge of it. What I have is from books, movies, the talk of relatives, and the civics class lessons on it. All war is horrible to those that experience it. At the same time, it presents opportunities to change the way things are and have...
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May.04.2011
Currently, writing resembles a game of pick-a-sticks, where the orderly mass of sticks is tossed in the air and allowed to land where it may. I cannot tell if we have smashed into the ground or are about to. Being a pragmatist, I try to cover my bases. Do I write for free, and should you? Well...
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Apr.25.2011
I am a dog person. Not a pet person, but a hard core, my dog is my life, dog person. I have done obedience, hunt tests, field trials, rescue, and even a little conformation with my dogs. They are as much a part of me as breathing. They are my children and everyone who is around me very long, and...
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Apr.06.2011
Puppies are God's way of reminding you just how powerful the Law of Unintended Consequences is. My puppy, Star, is a really bright dog with a not so bright owner. As part of housebreaking her, I needed a way for Star to tell me she wanted to go out. I got a cowbell and tied it to the doorknob,...
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Mar.31.2011
I realized I might have a problem when a couple of friends and I went to the Dallas Arboretum. I was walking around with a camera, taking pictures. I found some lady bug larvae and joyfully moved in for the shot. One friend asked what on earth I was doing focusing on the bug when there were all...
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Mar.19.2011
Writers today have many competing demands on their time. On the one hand, writers want to work on their books, articles, and other works. On the other hand, writers are expected to have a broad platform before they are published. That takes time away from writing.
There are ways to lessen the...
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Mar.14.2011
When I was growing up, my parents took the National Geographic magazine. They kept all their back copies, and I frequently read them. I was fascinated by the story of Jane Goodall as she studied the Chimpanzees. There were not too many role models for a girl in the late sixties and early...
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Mar.09.2011
I was reading Darlene Arden's post on people who take children to public places then allow said children to scream bloody murder and irritate everyone around them. About that time my puppy started playing with her mother, screaming at ear splitting volume. I do not remember past puppies making...
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About Stephanie
Born in Dallas, Texas, too long ago to mention, Stephanie Smith got her first dog, a toy Poodle, at the age of four. With the exception of seven months in California as a baby, and three years in Florida as a preteen, she has lived all her life in Texas...