Tess Hardwick

I am home. Today the rain falls in drops bigger than mist but smaller than a teardrop in a straight line outside my office window. I cannot see the Cascade mountain range from my window today but I know they linger unseen within the fog of this February morning. The dirt my puppy brings in [...]

I’ve come to find the red dirt. The red dirt of Emmylou Harris’ Alabama, my grandmother’s childhood journal, and the characters in my manuscript. This beast of a manuscript I’ve begun to think of as my Opus. I started Duet for Three Hands several years ago, after inspiration from letters and short stories written by [...]

Today I’m honored to have writer Sarah Bosworth on my blog. She agreed to lend us her award-winning school essay in which she answers the question: are you proud of your country? Sarah is 12 years old. Yes, you read that right.  You’ll be even more surprised after you read her essay. The crispness and [...]

The sweet fragrance is in the breeze when I step outside. It’s only a hint. But it’s unmistakably nature’s perfume, sweet and spicy, somewhere between honeysuckle and plumeria, a foreshadow of the coming spring. Like a promise from God, it whispers to me, because it still yelps of winter here: cold wind against my face, [...]

It’s a bit like a drug around my house. All through dinner their eyes have a certain glimmer like an addict looking for a fix. They might even unknowingly lick their lips. They glance furtively towards the pantry, rushing through dinner, no matter that it’s taken me all day to cook in my crock-pot. “Can [...]

It’s time for 20 Thursday. We’ve been absent from our series for a couple of weeks. I blame the weather. But this week I’m pleased to welcome fellow Booktrope author, Elise Stephens. She was kind enough to agree to answer my standard Thursday question: what would you tell your 20 year old self. When I [...]

This is my week for guest posts. Today I’m excited to be featured on Marni Mann’s site writing about how I fight to write. I’ve revealed my poor housekeeping and cooking skills in this one. Don’t hold it against me.

Featured today on the site, “She Is Too Fond of Books”, writing about my favorite bookstore in Cannon Beach, Oregon. As I look out on the dreary January day, I long for August and my time at this wonderful bookstore. Enjoy.

He’s one of those who knows that life  Is just a leap of faith  Spread your arms and hold you breath  Always trust your cape Chorus from “The Cape”, by Guy Clark It arrived in the Christmas box from my brother and his wife. Inside, under tissue paper, was an apron, knitted in soft purple [...]

Snow fell. School closed. Cheers from my children. The world outside our windows transformed by quiet white. My husband stays home from work; he takes the girls sledding and on snow walks. Patches, our puppy, sticks his nose into the white fluff, barking, bounding with the same joy he exhibited the day he escaped from [...]