Goodbye to Blogging – Thank You for Being Faithful Readers

 

This blog post will be a bit different from those to which you are accustomed. After writing a weekly blog post for over twelve years, I have made the decision to stop writing a post each week. It has been an honor to be in your homes each week with the message God laid on my heart. I cannot begin to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate your sticking with me for so many years. But, I’m getting older, and it takes me a long time to write and edit my books. It seems like a good time to end my blog posts and simply send you my monthly newsletter. This gives me more time to write my books.

If you subscribe to my blog but not my newsletter, I’d love to have you sign up for that. Below, I’m attaching my September newsletter which went out last week. This is a sample of what would appear in your mailbox just once a month rather than my weekly blog post. If it looks like something you’d enjoy, please go to my website as linked in the newsletter, and sign up for that. My actual newsletter will have photos imbedded. I hope you will enjoy it and be blessed by it.

Again, thank you for sticking with me over all these years. I pray that my words have blessed you in some way. Blessing to you and yours.

Goodbye to Blogging - Thank You For Being Faithful Readers @DDuPreeWilliams #writing #blogging #NewsletterContinues Share on X

September 2026 Newsletter

I love September. We get to celebrate the birthday of our first child this month. When we see the number, we are astounded. I’m sure he is, too. But not quite as much as he will be a year from now. It will be one of those milestone birthdays.

As our days grow shorter and the sun shifts in the sky, we have to make all manner of adjustments for things like shades. Do we need to pull them down a bit more? Close them until the afternoon? Is it too warm? Too cool?

But that’s life isn’t it? You know, I told you we thought we’d be moving. That’s still the plan. We loved one house we saw, but it came with a major, major flaw. One that can’t be fixed without major construction with architects and possibly engineers involved. So, we’re still talking about what to do. Prayers for wisdom and discernment are most welcome.

MY WIP

 I finished the first round of edits on Grave Risk. Yesterday, I dove into the second round. At this point, I have some major decisions to make about all manner of things related to getting a book out into the world. My editor, whom I adore since she totally gets me and my voice, is swamped. That’s a very good thing! I don’t begrudge her that situation at all. But now, I must pray about what to do. Wait until January, or find someone else to look over this book. I don’t like having to make such difficult decisions. Are you that way? Some things are simply too hard for us. That’s when we go to God and listen for His still small voice.

That sounds as if our private lives: what do we do about a new home, and my work life: what do I do about edits for this book, seem to collide. But as noted above, that’s just life. When we put our faith and trust in God, listen for His voice, we cannot go wrong.

WHAT I’M READING

Gotta be honest here. When one is in the midst of editing a book, one doesn’t have time to read much of anything else. I manage my morning devotions and, right now, a trip, twice a week, to PT. So, I’m not reading anything else but my own work right now. My friends, whose books I love, know that I’ll read and review just as soon as I can.

FROM MY KITCHEN

Apple season here lasts until late November, so we may have already had our apple festival, but that doesn’t mean the end of all things apple. We love supporting our favorite orchards. One of the perks of those visits every year—I make fried apple pies. The way I do them is so easy! I hope you will try your hand at this. Your family will think you worked all day, when it takes very little effort and very little time.

Fried Apple Pies

Ingredients:

1 can buttery flakey biscuits

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored, chopped or thin slices

½ half stick, unsalted butter

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 Tbs. light brown sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon (Ceylon if you can find it)

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg (I love nutmeg in mine)

1 Tbs. corn starch

Add about 2 Tbs. water if you feel it is needed

Peanut or Vegetable Oil for “frying”

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter and sugar in boiler; add chopped apples, cover and simmer

over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and add spices. Stir. Taste and adjust to your taste. Cool mixture.

Sprinkle flour on surface and roll out each biscuit to a round shape, not too thick

Place about 2 -3 Tbs. pie filling in center of each round. Wet edges of rounds with

Finger dipped in water, just enough to hold it together. Fold over, and press down lightly.

Seal edges with tines of a fork. (Closes it and makes it pretty, too.)

 

On a large baking sheet with sides, pout about  ½ cup of oil. Place pies on sheet and

Put into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Flip over halfway through. Finish baking.

 

They come out looking as if you stood over that hot bubbling oil and fried them in your skillet.

Some of mine usually pop open during the cooking process. Don’t worry about that. They taste

the same.

 

Variations:

Use other fruits, such as peaches or blackberries. Use same spices and other ingredients.

 

Salted Caramel:

Sprinkle  pie filling with chopped caramels and sprinkle lightly with sea salt  before baking.

 

Chocolate:

This was my favorite as a child.

In saucepan, whisk together ½ cup sugar with 1/3 cup flour and 2Tbs. cocoa. Add 1 cup cream or evaporated milk, 1 tsp. vanilla and ½  stick of butter. Heat over medium heat until it thickens. Cool, then fill pies.

 

Drain on rack or on paper towels. Sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar before serving. Or, serve as they are. Delicious!

 

 BOOK GIVEAWAY

 I have to be honest here. I simply forgot to do the giveaway last month. My bad. I was so busy trying to edit book three that I just flat-out forgot. Busy mind and getting older? Combo? Yep! Let’s chalk it up to both of those.

As a result, I’m giving away two books this month. Your choice of the Jen Wilken book I mentioned last month, Women of the Word, or one of my first two books, Grave Consequences or Grave Decisions.

Another choice is my friend Patricia Tiffany Morris’s first children’s book, Grief Like Rain, Hope Like Sunshine.  Patricia is one of the most-gifted people I have ever known. She even did the artwork for this beautiful book. I know you will love it!

PERSONAL NOTE

I have struggled with this decision for the past few years. It just won’t let me be. I’ve made the decision, after 12 years of writing a weekly blog (I missed very few weeks in all those years), that it is time for me to walk away from my weekly blog, Relatively Southern.

I’m getting older and I have other things I’d like to be writing. It’s been a joy to have you with me for this season of my life. But, I feel I need to devote more time to my books. I have so many ideas. One book on the horizon is book four, the final one in the Charlotte Graves Mystery Series, Grave Legacy. I also have a stand-alone which has already won an award or two in the past couple of years. I’ve started it, entered the first chapter and lo and behold, first place for fiction. I hope to bring you Red Dirt Girls soon after getting Grave Risk and Grave Legacy out there.

If you’ve followed my blog and/or my newsletter, I hope you’ll stick with me. I will continue a monthly newsletter which will keep you up to date on my works-in-progress. My newsletter content will remain much the same—what’s going on in my private life, what I’m reading, my WIP, a recipe from my or a friend’s kitchen, and a book giveaway, followed by a Scripture that has touched my life.

Thank you for being a faithful reader of Relatively Southern. I will retain this name for my website. You have blessed me with your comments and encouragement.  You’re in my prayers. If you subscribe to my blog, but not my newsletter, I’d love to have you subscribe to my newsletter at my website: https://www.DebraDuPreeWilliams.com

You will find a form there. Thank you!

SCRIPTURE

 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

                                                                                                            Ephesians 6:11 ESV

                                                                                                           Read 6:10-17 for full armor