Diana Gabaldon's Blog

What’s on my mind? Hmmm…. Well, I was reading through a chunk of ABFAWGO (hey, at least it’s a pronounceable abbreviation. If you want to call the book BLESSING or WARRIOR, though, fine by me…), and came to this sentence:

“I took the bottle and poured a bit more whisky all round; this was clearly going to take some time.”

Beastly Microsoft Word naturally popped in with its Helpful Suggestions, to wit:

That as I’m making a comparison (it thinks), I should change “whisky” to “whiskier”.

Mm.  Hmm...

Well, first things first—

A Very (slightly ex post facto…) Happy Birthday to Sam Heughan! When he was first cast to play Jamie Fraser, I noted that he was born on April 30th, while Jamie’s birthday is May 1st—one on either side of the Beltane fire.

Beltane is the Celtic fire festival that marks the beginning of summer, so plainly a time of good omens. As it turned out, it was indeed a time of good omens for All Things Outlander, so it seems an appropriate time to offer up two bits of (what I as...

A Happy Easter (and peaceful Passover) to everyone!

(This was one of those semi-accidental/semi-metaphorical photos—showing how the Light touches our everyday things, and makes even the smallest and most trivial aspects beautiful. So may God touch your life.)

So… descending to the beautifully trivial —what did y’all make for your feasts? We do Italian food for Easter (Mexican food is for Christmas): I made Drunk Chicken Pasta Salad, deviled eggs and brownies, and our son brought his astonis...

Well, it’s March 6th. This is my anniversary—not of marriage—but of beginning to write a book. I knew from the age of eight that I was supposed to write books; I just didn’t know how.

I have had people ask me whether I regret not getting an English degree and starting writing sooner, instead of wasting time on all those science degrees. (Really, people will say anything to someone they see as a Public Figure…) I actually never thought about that for a moment, and in retrospect, the answer is ...

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

I just got a text from our younger daughter, reading: “Happy Anniversary, you little cuties! Hope you’re celebrating 8 million years being weird together in some lovely way. Love you!”

(As in, today is our 48th wedding anniversary—or 53rd, if you count five years together pre-wedding…)

Which made me remember (when I stopped laughing) that last fall, one of the Outlander actors (name withheld for reasons of confidentiality ) asked me if I had any tips for maintaining...

I said I’d post my enchilada recipe today, but time got away from me, in the rush. If there’s no time to make them for tomorrow, there’s always New Year’s!

My father was always one to recognize both merit and shortcomings. Consequently, while he was often generous with praise, all his compliments came with a “BUT…” attached. “This is wonderful, BUT…”

In fact, I remember only three unqualified compliments from him. Thirty years ago, he told me that my swimming stroke was perfect. Twen...

Today is the Fourth (and final) Sunday of Advent. The waiting is almost over, but the anticipation is still to be enjoyed. The final candle (since we’ve used the other labels) is Peace.

Peace is one of those things that you can’t really define (not that people don’t, but—like love—it has depths and shimmering facets of meaning), but you know it when you encounter it. Hence the Biblical quote, “The peace that passeth understanding.”

Peace often comes and finds you in the midst of Things (like re...

This is the Third Sunday of Advent. People and sources differ as to whether this particular candle should be “Joy,” “Love,” or “Peace,” but the Catholic Church has historically called this day “Gaudete” Sunday—which means “Rejoicing.”

Are we rejoicing that Advent is nearly over, and Christmas is coming? Or panicking because we’ve just thought of three people for whom we haven’t yet found presents, and omg, we haven’t touched the Christmas cards!? Oh, wait… yes, yes we did mail the cards!

Could ...

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent.

Today/tonight, we light the second candle in our wreath. Customs around the world vary as to which candle carries which meaning and when it’s lighted, but where I am right now, the second candle is called “Joy.”

The nature of Joy is elemental. You can’t really plan for it to happen (though you may hope), and often are surprised by its appearance in an unlikely place or time.

Joy is a comet—often unexpected in its coming, but the tail of its memory stretches...

What’s on my mind? Well, turkey, natch…

but not far behind is CHRISTMAS!

To wit…

I was chatting with Barbara Peters (owner of the fabulous Poisoned Pen bookstore), who tells me that if you plan on giving (or acquiring for yourself ) a new, signed/personalized OUTLANDER book (any or all of them) for Christmas, the cutoff dates—this means that orders placed after these dates below can’t be guaranteed to arrive BY Christmas (you’ll certainly get them, just not for sure before Christmas)—are:

De...