Candace Simar's Blog, page 12

     I had a great time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones at this year’s Western Writers of America Convention in Sacramento.  The historical tours and lectures were great.  I learned about Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, panning for gold at Sutter’s Creek, the history of the Modoc Indians, plus lots of […]

     No, Farm Girls didn’t win the Northeastern MN Book Award, but it was still a lot of fun to be nominated, and it’s always fun to do events with my sister, Angela Foster.  The beautiful event was held at the University of MN Duluth Library.  Cathy Wurzer from MPR was the speaker.  Congratulations to […]

Recently I was invited to participate in a blogging tour.  The idea was to bring information about writers to new readers through individual blogs.  My sister blogged about me, and I asked Nancy Plain, a friend from Western Writers of America to answer questions about her work and writing.  Thanks, Nancy for being a good […]

Five Star Cengage does a great job with cover art.  Wouldn’t you agree?  BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Spur Award finalist and fourth book in the ABERCROMBIE TRAIL SERIES, is coming out soon in large print/hard cover.  A big thank you to Five Star for picking up the large print rights to my historical novels.  Please help spread […]

What a privilege to be invited by the Western Writers of America to be part of the judging panel for the 2014 Spur Award in Juvenile Fiction.   I’ll admit that reading the huge stack of this year’s submissions was a little daunting.  The books started arriving early in the fall and kept coming until the […]

Where it all happens…. Let me introduce myself, I am Krista Rolfzen Soukup, Candace Simar’s publicist and agent. I have promoted  and represented Candace and her writing since 2009 and love every minute of it.  Her book, Abercrombie Trail, was the book that inspired me to create Blue Cottage Agency. As much as I enjoy the Abercrombie Trail series and historical fiction, I really have no […]

It’s Happening! Don’t you love this new cover for BIRDIE?  Five Star/Cengage recently purchased the large print/hard cover rights for The Abercrombie Trail Series.  ABERCROMBIE TRAIL was released in large print in October, POMME DE TERRE comes out any day and I just received this cover image for BIRDIE.  BLOOMING PRAIRIE will be out by […]

My great grandfather, as a young, Norwegian immigrant,drove the stagecoach to Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory . This was back in the 1860s. This bit of family genealogy resulted in my historical novel, Abercrombie Trail. This picture is an actual painting entitled, “First Stage to Fort Abercrombie.”  Although the original painting is no longer around, someone wisely […]

CAPTURE THOSE MEMORIES   One of the delightful results of writing historical fiction set in Minnesota has been hearing family stories from readers across the region. Today I enjoyed a telephone conversation with an elderly woman in rural Browns Valley, Minnesota.  She told me about her childhood farm along the Wadsworth Trail in Traverse County, […]

Although I’m not usually a violent person,   I have been investigating ways to kill the passive voice in my writing.  On Saturday, I shared my discoveries with other writers at the Brainerd Writers Alliance Fall Conference held at the Brainerd Library.   The Conference celebrated writing of all genres and levels of expertise.  Winners of […]