Creekbank Blog

A timely sign from Annette Chaney Place in China

  “A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.”   -Baltasar Gracian Integrity: Hard to establish; easy to lose. Integrity is one of my six words I seek to live by.  It’s such a simple yet complex term. It must be built up and maintained.  It can not just be created.  It must be nurtured. Lord, help me to be …

We truly live in a wonderful world.  That’s the reason I always carry my camera/iphone.

Stuck on Devil’s Tower   . . . I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. On October 1, 1941 parachutist George Hopkins did something incredibly stupid.  He parachuted onto the top of Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower. Recently while visiting this impressive national monument, I read about Hopkin’s stunt. He did it to get attention and got much …

In my former life (as a biology teacher) I became known as the snake man.  I’ve always been fascinated with snakes.  (One evangelist at the camp once said,  “I think a lot of you, but you and those snakes worry me.”) Late August and September are active times for snakes in Louisiana.  It’s what the old timers called “The Dog …

Podcast This is our reader’s all time favorite story, “Dead End Road.”  Enjoy! 04 Dead End Road 2 It’s from my second book, The Old House.

“A Southern Woman can do anything.” -Iris My friend Iris gave me this reply to a question I asked. It sums up why I’ve always loved Southern women. I’m thankful for the Southern women in my life. I married one. She can’t be beat. I was birthed by one.  My mother reared us with the best qualities that make our …

01 Leaning trees 1 “Leaning Trees” is a reader favorite from Hearts across the Water. It’s more than a story about pines trees after a hurricane, it’s about not giving up on people, especially young people.

This is a poem by my dear cousin, Mary V. Iles Hudson.  She lives in Lake Charles and is full of live at 90+. She is one of the last remaining great-grandchildren of my heroes in The Wayfaring Stranger/A Good Place,  Joe and Eliza Moore. Perseverance A seed fell on a certain spot. Just how or when mankind knows not. …

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”   –George Patton George Patton was an integral part of the 1941 La. Army Maneuvers.  In the movie, “Patton”, he refers to Louisiana and the maneuvers in his famous “American Flag” opening speech. The following scene from my new novel, A Spent Bullet, relates an oft-told story of General Patton in …

Full Moon Living with a sense of wonder:  Full moon rises tonight@ 7:36 PM CDT/ Lake Charles. If the moon only rose yearly, or even monthly, or periodically like an eclipse, we’d turn out school to watch it.  The sight of this huge satellite rising through the pines always gives me a thrill. It’s a gift from God not to …

Special thanks to the Camp Bethany family for letting me stay and write at your camp.  Thanks to Robert and Joan, David and Derinda, Kelli, and staff. Camp Bethany is a beautiful Baptist Camp west of Shreveport on the Texas/La. line. A Spent Bullet: Coming in November This is the “elevator speech”* explanation of my  upcoming novel, A Spent Bullet. …

“It is in spending oneself that one becomes rich.”   -Sarah Hernhardt   “Lord, may today be a day of life and giving in my life. Amen.” I’m gathering Oxen stories.  Do you know any of know of any oxen experts in your community?

On Getting Things Done…. “I’ve got to do this, and I can’t do it alone.” It’s that necessary tension between taking the ball in your hands vs. realizing you cannot do anything alone. I learn (and re-learn) it each time I write a book.  So many gifted hands, hearts, and minds are involved in writing, editing, producing, and marketing a …