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How Do You Schedule the Unscheduled Days of Summer?

End of school always labeled freedom. I can’t help but remember those elementary days and how we all dashed out of the school building on the last day. Some of the kids ripped their papers out of their notebooks, letting the wind carry the testimony of the hours of work away. I was never one to litter, but I did the dash! Perfect blue sky promising... [Read more of this review]

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Unless the Lord Builds Your Writing House

Photo by Dean Terry There have been some great posts recently about the difficulty of this writing journey we’re on together. If you haven’t read The Lonely Writer and When You Feel Like You’ve Been Left Behind, you should go do that now. Both of those posts really resonated with me because it seems like the disappointments on this road far outnumber... [Read more of this review]

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Finding Mommy Bliss

Guest post by amazing mommy friend GennyHeikka Life is busy and motherhood is busier. It can be easy to function on auto-pilot, missing the moments that make parenting rich. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and isolated too. If you’re a mom, you know that parenting can be chaotic, stressful, and complicated. There are temper tantrums and sibling... [Read more of this review]

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The Write Attitude

Earlier this week I talked about your writer’s attitude over at my Real-Writer’s Blog. I won’t copy that and paste it here, since it’s lazy (and the web crawlers don’t like it), but I’ll continue my thoughts. A successful writer becomes a success long before the first book contract is signed. Success happens when... [Read more of this review]

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Creating Quirky Characters

I started novel-writing when chick-lit was “the thing.” It’s not “the thing” anymore, but I miss those quirky characters. Bridget Jones in granny panties. The Finland-loving Rebecca Bloomwood. And, of course, Kristin Billerbeck’s Ashley Stockingdale. Why? Because I relate to them. I’m not angst-ridden like Bella Swan or strong and silent... [Read more of this review]

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A Writer’s Roller Coaster Life: Are You Ready to Ride?

Being a writer is like strapping yourself into a straight jacket and then jumping on a Rockin’ Roller Coaster. Once strapped in, you can’t get off and you have to trust that the operator will bring you safely to the end. In the meantime, you’re helpless, torn between the terror and the excitement as you’re body’s knocked... [Read more of this review]

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The Power in a Photograph to Tell a Story

Guest Post by Jeff Satterly It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think that saying a picture is “worth” any amount of words isn’t exactly true. Both images and written text have value for conveying information and providing insight and understanding into something, but some pictures, and photographs in particular,... [Read more of this review]

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Why You Can’t Live on the Mountaintop

By Geoffrey Kuchera | Dreamstime Stock Photos Mountaintops are beautiful. It’s there you feel free as if you have the world at your fingertips. You have a front row seat to God’s majestic sunrise and at night, an unobstructed view of  the vast  universe. It’s a wonderful place to experience, but you can’t stay up there for... [Read more of this review]

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Making Room for Thankfulness in the Midst of Privation

God has been nudging me about memorizing Scripture. I have embarrassingly little of His Word committed to memory, so I started with the verses I have tape-flagged in my Bible, ones I wanted to keep close anyway. I practice each verse for a few minutes a day, adding a new one when I have the last secured. Yesterday I started working on Isaiah 30:18-22. Therefore... [Read more of this review]

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Reorganization: The Cost of Starting Over

 Maybe it’s the writer in me. Or the perfectionist. Possibly the perfectionist writer. In any case, when it comes to organizational systems, I’m forever revising, producing new drafts of my methods, and occasionally scrapping what I’ve got and starting over. If necessity is the mother of invention, then annoyance is its kooky uncle. (TWEET THIS... [Read more of this review]

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How to Start your Writing Business: Famous Writer, Inc.

Every writer has uttered the words “I want to write full time someday!” Unless you are the child of Donald and (insert bride name here) Trump, you probably don’t have the luxury of buying a beach-house in the Keys and living out your Hemingwayesque fantasy. You have bills, a mortgage, car payments, and probably someone in your home... [Read more of this review]

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When the Bomb Counts Down to Zero: Writing Honest Through the Pain

Guest Article by Shelly Beach and giveaway Over the past few weeks, a friend and I have been plowing our way through all six seasons of the television series Lost. If you’re not familiar with the show, it rose to the forefront American pop culture from 2004 to 2010, gaining critical acclaim and popular success. In a simplified version of the plot,... [Read more of this review]

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The Lonely Writer: No Writer Left Behind

Gina Conroy, who shall henceforth be known as Super G on this here blog, posted in Writer…Interrupted this week about her struggles as a “left behind” writer. She and I have shared this same lonely writer experience. We began writing years ago and found other newbies to hang out with (albeit electronically) and encourage. However,... [Read more of this review]

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Chemistry in Christian Romance

I once got a bad review claiming my novel LOVE FINDS YOU IN SUN VALLEY, IDAHO “awoke love too early.” And I couldn’t help being proud of it. Because, hey, that means I’m good at creating chemistry, right? There’s nothing worse than reading (or watching) a story where there’s no chemistry between the characters. This doesn’t mean love-making.... [Read more of this review]

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Dallas Writers University One Day Intensive with Agent Chip MacGregor

  So it’s Monday and I’m behind in blogging again. This week’s excuse? A successful run of The Little Mermaid. So instead of banging out a post, I’m passing on a great deal on an awesome One Day Intensive with my agent Chip MacGregor. It’s May 4th in Dallas and seating is limited to 30 (so hurry!) The line up of speakers... [Read more of this review]

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Practicing Hospitality

What does it mean to practice hospitality? I recently had the opportunity to utilize my home as a ministry tool and host two sisters in Christ for a week. As you might guess if you frequent my Home Management posts, this was a bit of a mountaintop moment for me. However, hospitality isn’t confined to being a gracious hostess. It is not itself comfortable... [Read more of this review]

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Walking on Water With Jesus

The story of Peter walking on water has been speaking volumes to me lately. I heard a teaching on it about a month ago and it sparked a new fascination in me. It’s one of those stories I’ve heard countless times since childhood, so it amazes me that God will speak something fresh and new for my life out of a story that is anything but fresh... [Read more of this review]

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When You Feel Like You’ve Been Left Behind in This Publishing Journey

So this post has been sitting in my draft folder for while, waiting for the right time, or maybe for me to truly feel that I’ve conquered the “left behind” feeling so I can adequately encourage others. The truth is I still feel like I’ve been left behind at times, so maybe it’s time to set these words free… Maybe... [Read more of this review]

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Preparing Homeschool Transcripts

                  I love homeschooling older kids. They challenge me with their subjects, curiosity, and creative insights. I seriously learn right alongside them, especially through the subjects that I barely scraped through when I was in school. But I don’t get such a kick out of preparing the records... [Read more of this review]

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When the Creativity Well is Dry

“Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the discipline of fools is folly.” -Proverbs 16:22 After struggling with a rough spot in my WIP for a ridiculous period of time, I concluded that my creativity well had run dry. It needed something I simply didn’t have. Thus, I did what anyone with a dry well would do and went to... [Read more of this review]

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