A New Dragon Story

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

Hollow Oak Press is featuring my fantasy story, Dragon Dancers, on their Acorns site now. After reading the other stories they have posted, I’m seriously honored to be among them!

Some quick background on the story. I wrote the first version in one sitting about three years ago. I wrote it in response to a prompt from an anthology, which turned it down, saying it felt “unfinished.” They were right. So I’ve noodled around with the story several times, rewriting it until it felt like I’d gotten it right.

You can read it here: https://hollowoakpress.com/dragon-dancers

A Memorable Winter

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

It’s snowing again. Fourth time in the last two weeks. This one isn’t supposed to amount to anything, just a few flurries. I hope that’s right. We don’t need anymore. Weekend before last we got three inches of mostly sleet, some of which is still on the ground. (Nicely compacted into treacherous sheets of ice!) Sleet was actually a blessing, though. It could’ve been freezing rain and brought down trees and power lines. But sleet bounces off, so we dodged that bullet.

It has stayed cold, with several days not getting above freezing, so some ice was still around when ten inches of snow fell this past weekend. Fortunately, it did warm up a little by Tuesday, but it wasn’t until yesterday (Wednesday) that we deemed it safe enough to take the car out.

Last night we had another dusting of snow and today it’s snowing again. It’s also so cold that the slush has refrozen and nothing will be melting today. Tomorrow might be a little better. I’m really tired of it.

This is central North Carolina! Many years we don’t get any snow at all. Mother Nature seems to be confused. I’d like to point her to points north where they expect this stuff.

Winter 2026 – What I’m Working On

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

It’s the icky time of year. Cold, often blustery weather, with occasional bouts of freezing rain and snow. My least favorite time of year. The garden is brown and dry—not dead but asleep. There isn’t much to do right now outside the house. Going out for a walk means bundling up and preparing to fight wind and cold temperatures. Travel is minimal

But it does have some virtues. The lack of distractions means more writing time and I’m trying to take advantage of that. My current project involves scanning in an older book I wrote many years ago. I still like the premise, but I didn’t really know how to unwind the plot effectively. I’m not sure I know how to do it now.

But the setup for the story is good enough that I think it’s worth giving it a try. I’ll probably have to rewrite most of the second half of a 90,000-word novel. And maybe it won’t work at all. It’s going to be an interesting challenge.

My Favorite Book I Read in 2025

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

Theo of Golden is a remarkable book with an extraordinary story. Not just the plot of the novel, but the background of the work itself. The author is 70+ years old and this is his first novel. It was initially self-published but generated enough buzz to cause Simon & Schuster to republish it and give it wide distribution. Word of mouth has propelled it to bestseller status. I heard about it on a Facebook group for readers where several members raved about it enough to make me think it might be worth giving it a try. I am forever grateful to those people.

The quick blurb: An older Portuguese man moves from NY to Golden, a fictional small city somewhere in the vicinity of Savannah, Georgia. He sees a group of portraits in a local coffee shop, resolves to buy them all, and give them to their subjects. That’s the basic premise, but his actions touch peoples’ lives, bring changes, move hearts, and establish connections along the way.

There are also several levels of mystery. Who is Theo? Why did he come to Golden? What moved him to buy the pictures and give them away? Those questions are resolved in the end, and many of the answers are touching, surprising, and sometimes tie up ends you didn’t even realize were loose.

I read it and recommended it to my husband and others. As my husband said after reading it, “It’s a rare book that makes you want to be a better person.” It is indeed a rare book.

As an author, I have to say: If ever there was a book I wish I could have written myself, this is it.

Favorite Books of 2025

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

Not all of these books were published in 2025; I just happened to read them this year. Once again I note that my favored reading tends toward paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery, with a smattering of romance. Not really a surprise to me. I’m especially happy when an author skillfully combines more than one of those genres.  However, my absolute favorite book of the year was a more mainstream book, an extraordinary story – Theo of Golden.More Favorites

           

         

       

     

2026 Goals

Karen McCullough Posted on by  

I have some fairly ambitious goals for 2026. I’ll try to meet them but promise not to beat myself up if I don’t!  First up is that older novel that I’ve had on the shelf for years. It has what I think is a great premise, but at the time I wrote it, I didn’t have a great grasp on plotting. (It was the fourth complete novel I’d written at the time.)  Even at that, the book attracted an agent and came close to selling to a major NY publisher. I think I can do better now, so I’m getting it out. I have to scan in the typed pages, because I don’t have an electronic copy of it anymore, and it will need lots of updating to account for changes since the time I wrote it, thirty years ago.

I also want to finish rewriting Treadwell House. I got some great feedback on it, indicating it was close, but needed a few key changes to make it really work.

And finally, in the novel category, I hope to at least get a good start on the fifth and final book in the Market Center Mysteries series. Likely title is A Holiday for Murder, and will be set at a Holiday Show, the first time the setting will be a public show rather than a closed trade show. I already have some idea of how the plot should go.

Again this year, I hope to write 5-6 short stories, and I need to do better about trying to submit them. I do have one already accepted for an anthology this coming year, but I’d like to have a couple more in the pipeline.

And, finally, I’m going to try to continue my regular blogging, aiming for two posts a week. I don’t have a huge readership for the blog, but a fairly steady one. And, in truth, many of the posts are just me, sorting out my own thoughts on things, mixed in with more promo-oriented screeds.

2025 Goals Assessment

Karen McCullough Posted on by

My first goal for this year was to finish Unleashed for Murder, the fourth book in the Market Center Mysteries series. I hit this one. Unleashed for Murder released in November.

I did get a start on rewriting Treadwell House, but got bogged down about a third of the way through with a problem I haven’t yet worked out.  Getting that done will be one of my 2026 goals.  I’ve also made a start on the fifth and final book in the Market Center series, but haven’t gotten very far. I have a basic idea of the plot.

I’ve also pulled out an older novel I wrote back in the 1980s. It was a close call with a publisher back in the day, but ultimately had a plot issue that needed substantial rewriting. I only have a hard copy of it, which I’m scanning in, but it will take a fair amount of rewriting and reworking to make it worth trying to publish now.

I wrote four new short stories this past year and two of the four have found homes. One was published in the recently released anthology, The Greatest Holiday Romance Stories Ever Written. Another should be in a forthcoming anthology of romantic fantasy stories, title unknown as yet. I haven’t done as well at submitting stories as I should’ve, though.

I’m still working on the goal of blogging regularly. I’ve been trying for two a week and was doing pretty well until we hit December. The holidays are always a hard time to keep up with anything writing-related, but this year I will try to keep up the two a week goal and have more in inventory.

 

Christmas 2025

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It was madness!  It was chaotic! It was wonderful!

As usual we had a houseful for Christmas this year! Ourselves, plus two of our three children (with spouses), six of our eight grandchildren, one step-grandchild, three significant others, and one great-grandchild were all here for Christmas morning, along with my sister-in-law.

Not all of them actually stayed here in our house, since we don’t have that much extra room, but the ones who weren’t in our spare rooms had rented a house nearby.

We had seventeen people in our living room for present opening, five of them under the age of fifteen. We served brunch, which was provided mostly by my oldest daughter, and later dinner. We all contributed to dinner. I cooked the turkey, stuffing, mushroom casserole, and pumpkin bread. Older daughter contributed corn casserole and broccoli casserole; younger daughter made the orange sweet potato cups, gravy, and an elaborate black forest cake for my birthday. Rolls were cmpliments of my sister-in-law, and my second oldest grandson made a delicious cranberry-orange bread. We feasted.

With so many people milling around, opening gifts, eating, and drinking, it did get noisy and chaotic, but everyone was in good spirits, contributed to food prep or cleaning up, and helped out when needed.  I’m very blessed to have the family I do.

Happy 2026!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s a brand new year!  I hope it’s a great one for everyone. Wishing everyone peace of mind, integrity, joy, interesting challenges, great reading, and a sense of purpose in the year starting today!

I have plans that I will try to share here soon.  I will also shortly post a quick report on the chaotic but wonderful Christmas celebration here in Casa McCullough.