Who Am I?

It strikes me that I should have a more complete bio somewhere than just what's listed in the "About Me" thingie on my sidebar.  Something a little more specific, maybe.  Something that gives you an idea of where I'm coming from when I write all this stuff on my blog.  So here goes.

I'm a Christian.  A Lutheran, to be precise.  A conservative, confessional Lutheran, to be even more precise.  I belong to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), though I was raised in the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod (LCMS).  I believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God.  You don't agree, take it up with Him.

I'm a wife.  Cowboy and I have been married since 2002, and mighty happily so.

I'm a mother of three young children.  I stay at home and homeschool them.  I was homeschooled myself, K-12, as a matter of fact.


I'm a writer.  I've been writing fiction for more than twenty years now, since I was fourteen and decided I didn't want to be a veterinarian after all.  I've been telling stories for as long as I can remember, though, and my parents have a couple of one-paragraph stories I typed up on Mom's old manual typewriter when I was six or seven.  
I'm currently a columnist for the newspaper Prairie Times, and you can read all of my monthly columns from 2018 forward right here.

I won a contest from Rooglewood Press in 2016 with my Sleeping Beauty retelling, "The Man on the Buckskin Horse," which is now available in the anthology Five Magic Spindles. I have since independently published four books: Cloaked (2017), Dancing and Doughnuts (2018), One Bad Apple (2020), and My Rock and My Refuge (2022).  You can learn more about them on this page.

I also have a book-oriented blog called The Edge of the Precipice that I invite you to visit!  And I'm on Instagram now, aren't I fancy?

I have a BA in Liberal Arts with concentrations (like minors) in English and History.


I love to read, write, watch movies, crochet, bake, cook, and play in the dirt.  I have yet to grow up.  But when I do grow up, I want to be a fairy godmother.


And I have a deep need to hug fictional characters.  Just so you know.


22 comments:

  1. I love your expanded explanation of who you are. I always appreciate it when bloggers share more insights about themselves. Readers really do appreciate it. It is a personal touch that goes a long way.

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    1. Thanks! I feel the same way -- that most of the blogs I really like are the ones that share something about who the writer is and not just giving opinions about things. There are a few exceptions, but it's easier to understand someone's opinions and relate to them if you know a little of where they're coming from.

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  2. Hi! I'd like to send you a message about the Sister, Daughter, Mother, Wife blog; but I don't see a contact e-mail. Might you be willing to message me? sister-daughter-mother-wife (at) googlegroups.com would work. Thanks!

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  3. movie-lover and writer here too. nice to meet you.

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    1. Nice to "meet" you too, Michelle! Glad you happened upon my blog :-)

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  4. Hi Hamlette,
    Just wanted to let you know my sister Katherine and I, nominated you for the Liebster award on our blog! https://maidensofgreengables.blogspot.com/
    Grace

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    1. Thanks, Grace (and Katherine)! I'll check it out :-)

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  5. Hi, Rachel!

    Just wanting to invite you to my Lucille Ball blogathon. It's happening waaaaaay out, August 6th-7th, but it's for her 109th birthday. I'd love to have you join. ❤ Carissa

    https://cabdriversandcoffeepots.blogspot.com/2020/04/we-love-lucy-blogathon-lucille-ball.html

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    1. Regency Woman, that looks like fun! I will have to see what I can figure out for it. I used to watch I Love Lucy a lot, so if all else fails, maybe I can figure up a "ten favorite episodes" list or something.

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    2. Hi, Rachel! This is a sincere thank you and a reminder that the "We Love Lucy Blogathon" begins on August 6th. I look forward to your blog post! ❤

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    3. Carissa, I'm working on it right now! :-)

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  6. Hello Rachel!

    I just wanted to say thank you again, the short story you inspired me to write (a western-ish re-telling of the stone soup folk tale) has now been published online. I wouldn't have thought to write it without finding you and your blog and books first!

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    1. VT, that's so exciting! Hooray for you! I'd love to read it -- can you give me a link?

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  7. Yes, I'm happy to! I just wasn't sure what your policy on random people promoting themselves on your blog would be! :) Here's the link: http://frontiertales.com/2020/12Dec/horseshoe_nail_stew.php

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  8. Hi Rachel, greetings from Switzerland – just wanted to tell you that I IMMENSELY like reading what you post in your blog, ESPECIALLY your witty and spot-on reviews of the films with a certain leading man that both of us seem to adore – yes, my dearest Alan Ladd!! I admire you for your computer skills – I would rather be able to milk a Jersey cow (Shane, come back...) than having the faintest idea how to create and manage a blog (although I would SO like to do it...) Forgive my English, my first language is German, well, not even German, but some weird Swiss dialect. Guess what? I'm gonna watch now (only part of, I'm afraid, since it's the middle of the night here) one of your fave movies, "The Great Escape", and earlier on I watched "Hatari" with your favourite actor John Wayne. By the way, I also write books, but academic ones (*yawn*) – never could sum up the courage to write fiction... Well, this from a Swiss (lady)who likes your blog!

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    1. Hello, Swiss lady! Thank you for your lovely comment! Don't worry -- your English is much better than my Deutsch :-)

      It's always great to meet another Alan Ladd fan! Which of his movies do you like best? I really think Branded is my favorite, though Shane is close.

      I hope you enjoyed what you were able to watch of The Great Escape :-) Such an excellent movie!

      What subject(s) do you write your academic books about?

      Feel free to leave comments on any movie posts you'd like to discuss :-) I'm always happy to discuss them. And to be honest, blogs aren't hard to create if you can use something like Blogger or Wordpress -- they have tutorials to walk you through the steps.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. Hello Rachel,
    sorry, should have introduced myself, my name is Andrea and I live in Basel (in the corner of Switzerland very close to France and Germany). Thanks for your answer! Yeah, "The Great Escape" has been one of my favourites since my teenager years!! And, yes, great to meet another Alan Ladd fan! So unfair that so few people seem to remember him – he gave us such good entertainment and man, was he a looker. I guess I somehow like "Shane" best, with "Branded" as close runner-up. "The Proud Rebel" is quite touching, but it always makes me sad to see how much he aged in such a short time. In "Shane" he was simply gorgeous, no longer the "choir boy" face (he himself used that expression...), more mature than in the 40s "noirs" and swashbucklers.

    My academic books? Well, I majored in American literature and wrote my Ph.D. thesis about Henry David Thoreau (no kidding). Nowadays my focus is more on scholars who taught and wrote here in Switzerland in the 19th century. For example a guy named Bachofen who was fascinated by Lewis Henry Morgan's studies about the Iroqois' matriarchal customs... You understand that I feel the urgent need to escape to Shane and Choya ;-)

    I love movies of the 40s and 50s, and thanks, yes, I very gladly will leave comments on movie posts where I feel I can contribute something pertinent.
    Thanks again for your posts, you have your very own, witty writing style!

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    1. Hi again, Andrea! How fun that we share the same 2 Alan Ladd movies for our top two. He was wonderful in Proud Rebel too, but I agree, it's hard to see him in his later films because he looks so different. Have you ever listened to the old radio show "Box 13" that he starred in? If not, look for it on YouTube, as I've been able to find all the episodes there. I love Ladd's voice, and the show is a fun little detective sort of series.

      A major in American lit would be so much fun to get, I bet! I minored in English in general, and took every lit class I could get my hands on. I have a book blog called The Edge of the Precipice too if you ever want to chat books :-)

      Movies of the '40s, '50s, and '60s are my favorites! I'm glad you're enjoying my writing style and posts :-)

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