Words
I have been a writer by nature since early childhood. My published works began with a short article in my opinion that 'Unpublished Does Not Mean Unwritten' (Housewife Writers Forum, Aug 26, 1991) and branched into my autobiography 'Dino, Godzilla and the Pigs (Life on our Missouri Hog Farm) published by SoHo Press in 1993.
Nearly twenty years after its publication I am still as proud of 'Dino' as the day I wrote it. At the time, I was asked to write about 'life on a modern day farm from a modern day woman's point of view'. I did just that and as I did, I laughed at my blunders, I cried over my heartaches and I learned anew. Imagine my delight when 'Dino' was displayed on the front cover of Publisher's Weekly! While I did a number of book signings for 'Dino' the one that still causes my head to spin was a 'live' interview with radio 'Fresh Air'. They tell me that interview was broadcast nationwide. A friend heard it and said 'I sounded like me'. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not.
Quotes from reviews of Dino, Godzilla and the Pigs:
Publisher's Weekly: "Charming well-crafted account of a woman who copes with personal tragedies and natural disasters with buoyancy, a sense of humor and a deep commitment to quintessentially rural lifestyle."
Kirkus Reviews: "A vivid diary of life on the family farm today."
The Kansas City Star: "Fricke's pouring out as to a trusted friend, is endearing and her concerns are universal to women and her time"
Farm Industry News: "Fricke, doesn't hold back in talking about personal tragedies and the difficulties in working with a spouse."
Successful Farming: "Her book would be a great primer for urban readers."
There are still a few new, hardbound copies of 'Dino' available but the quantity is limited. E-mail me if you are interested.
Currently I am writing:
Articles for http://7score10.com which involves occurances, actions, political views, battles, etc that happened during the Civil War. There are several other writers besides myself and together we strive to bring the Civil War to a new more detailed awareness of those tragic years in our nation's history.
I am also editing and writing articles for http://patriotic-jewelry.com. Beverly Johnson Roberts sells excellant, and quite beautiful jewelry through her websites. Ms. Johnson and I have become e-friends over the years as I have written a number of the informational articles contained on her websites about the practices of the Catholic Church and other religions, about the lives of patron saints and patriotic occurances here in the United States and around the world.
And then there is this fiction series I began years ago. While I struggled not really selling anything I filled my time and disappointment by getting wrapped up in stories about people I invented who live here in the midwest. The characters in my stories followed one another from manuscript to manuscript and eventually evolved into a romantic suspense series I affectionately refer to as 'Birds in Peril'. Not sure where all this connection to birds came from except that I like birds--yes, I'm a closet bird watcher. I love to read romantic suspense. I love inventing people and their lives even more. So, the first in the series 'Pigeon in a Snare' has been accepted by the e-book publisher AKW Books but no publishing dates have been selected as yet. I am currently working on the fourth story in the series so I hope story 2: 'Eye on the Sparrow ' and Story 3: 'Spirit of the Dove' will soon be accepted and followed by 'Talons of the Hawk' and finally the series ending with Eagles in the title.