instagram pinterest linkedin facebook twitter goodreads facebook circle twitter circle linkedin circle instagram circle goodreads circle pinterest circle

Amy Hill Hearth

American Writer

One Author's Life (Opinion)

What an Epic Storm Means to a Writer

January 27, 2016
Tags: On Writing, storms, inspiration
I hope everyone has recovered from the blizzard that covered half of the country last weekend.

When nature wreaks havoc, we adults tend to focus on the stress and inconvenience, while children see an opportunity for a break from school and a chance to frolic in the snow.

From an author’s point of  Read More 

A Family Story of Hope and Perseverance

January 13, 2016
I have a story about my grandma (my dad's mother) that I would like to share with you. It is a story of hope, perseverance, and love. Grandma told me this story one day over breakfast thirty years ago. I knew that she had been a miracle baby - she weighed less than 3 pounds  Read More 

Mom's Special Christmas, Circa 1931

December 16, 2015
My mom, who is 90, was reminiscing recently about Christmas during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

There wasn't much in the way of gifts. Matter of fact, there wasn't much in the way of food.

Daily life was usually a struggle. Grandpa became a scavenger, coming home with fruit that had been discarded by  Read More 

The Five Topics Which Used to be Off-Limits (and, Maybe, Should Still Be?)

November 19, 2015
Social media seems to bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. We’ve all noticed that some people use Facebook, for example, in a positive way while others become weirdly competitive, snarky, or even abusive.

Not long ago there was an unspoken rule that certain topics were, quite simply,  Read More 

A Novel's Character Talks to a Wild Bird: Peculiar, or Charming?

November 4, 2015
Do you ever talk to wild birds or animals (or critters, as we say in the South)?

I thought this was an unusual hobby until I was in Florida last week, when I flat-out asked people. I was surprised at the number – one out of every ten, I would venture to guess – who raised  Read More 

Dogs Can Teach Us How to Live

October 21, 2015
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love dogs. My current dog is a very small Boston Terrier named Miss Dot, who serves as my writing companion when she isn’t busy telling me what to do.

To me, a house does not feel like a home without a dog. When  Read More 
2 Comments

The Upside (and Downside) of a Protected Childhood

October 7, 2015
We came home from church and were still in our Sunday best. My two older brothers raced upstairs to change. Mom headed for the kitchen. My sister and I were in the living room with Dad when he turned on the TV to check the news – not a habit in our family, but then again, the previous few days had been unlike any others.  Read More 
2 Comments

The Delany Sisters' Favorite Beverage Treat

September 24, 2015
Fans of my first book, the 1993 oral history, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100, may recall that the centenarian Delany Sisters’ favorite beverage treat was something called a “Boston cooler.”

What is a Boston Cooler, you ask?

It’s an ice cream soda similar to a root-beer float, except it’s  Read More 

A Special Cake for a Book Birthday!

September 8, 2015
When you’re writing a book, the publication date seems so far in the future.

And then, suddenly, it’s here.

Today is publication day for my new novel, Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County, which I started writing 730 days (or two years) ago.

I’m relieved, ecstatic, and a little  Read More 

Trying to Hang onto Summer? Make a Key Lime Pie

August 26, 2015
When I was a newspaper reporter, I knew a novice food writer who got the assignment of her dreams from a big magazine: She was to travel throughout the South in search of the best Key Lime Pie. It seems the distinctive flavorings of Key Lime Pie have inspired epic struggles about the “right”  Read More 
Loading…}