by Marian Exall | Nov 14, 2023 | history, Musings
Edith Zwartendijk was twelve years old in 1939 when her father Jan Zwartendijk reluctantly accepted the post of Dutch Consul in Kaunas, Lithuania. She remembers him working late into the night to issue over 2,300 visas to Curaçao, a Dutch colony in the Caribbean,... 
by Marian Exall | Oct 18, 2023 | Musings
In September I vacationed in rural France. Lazy days with extended family; watching the cows in the meadow lumber down to the river; browsing local village markets wishing I could bring the spicy olives, aged cheeses and goose liver pâté back to Washington State; long... 
by Marian Exall | Jun 4, 2020 | Musings
After publishing A Splintered Step, the third book in the Sarah McKinney Mystery series, in late 2018, I became absorbed in my current project, a World War 2 novel that requires far more research and revision than the mysteries. However, before submerging... 
by Marian Exall | May 4, 2020 | Musings
Flash Fiction I have no problem writing short. Writer friends who bemoan having to trim their 250,000 word drafts to an acceptable 150,000 get no sympathy from me. My first drafts read like outlines. They require filling out with several rounds of revision... 
by Marian Exall | Apr 3, 2020 | Musings
WHATCOM WRITES is a writing competition held in connection with our annual county-wide book club. This year’s book, Timothy Egan’s The Big Burn, inspired the theme of hindsight. Some writers wrote with regret of questions not asked, paths not...
