The Long and Winding (Writing) Road, by Author Janet Sketchley

The earliest notes for my first novel, Heaven's Prey, are dated almost 20 years before it released. In that time, it went through multiple revisions as I learned how to write. The standard advice to authors-in-training is to finish the manuscript and move on to a new one, learning as they go, but I felt my characters deserved better than that. As long as I could learn...

Read More

Deconstructing Anxiety, by Author Janet Sketchley

Do you ever feel anxious? Under pressure, real or imagined?  My family would tell you I can turn anything into a source of stress. I don't appreciate that choice of words, because it sounds intentional, as if I want to be stressed. The fearful part of my mind instinctively analyzes opportunities and events in terms of risk or trouble and puts me on alert. God...

Read More

Mesu Andrews’s In the Shadow of Jezebel ~ Reviewed

In the Shadow of Jezebel  By: Mesu Andrews Published by Revell ISBN 978-0800721701 BACK COVER: In a kingdom controlled by cruel and manipulative women, one princess will discover the power of truth and love. Trained as a priestess in the temple of Baal, Princess Jehosheba strives to please the demanding Queen Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel. But when a mysterious...

Read More

Devotional: Bad Press Is Good Press

Christians are getting some seriously bad press lately. There are whole groups now dedicated to eradicating people of our faith from certain areas of the world, groups who have expressed their ambition to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth entirely. When concern is expressed over this, reactions range from dismissive comments about these groups trying to generate media attention, to Christians being told “get over” the supposed persecution,...

Read More

Understanding Work-for-Hire by Elizabeth Ludwig

On Tuesday, I mentioned that I had started a new series of Amish cozy mysteries, and that it was work-made-for-hire. But what exactly does that mean, and why did I agree to do it? A work-made-for-hire (sometimes abbreviated as work for hire or WFH) basically just means that the author agrees to create a work as part of their job and that both the author and the company...

Read More

Stepping Outside the Boundaries

I started a new project last year…one that I have been fairly quiet about as I learned the ins-and-outs of the subject I was about to tackle. You see, for the first time in my career, I was undertaking an Amish cozy mystery (see below for a preview of my new book cover!). And it was a work-for-hire project for Guideposts. Two things I had never before done! God has certainly...

Read More

Devotional: To Walk Worthy

Attending the funeral of a young woman who just flew away home to heaven after a six-year battle with cancer will give a person perspective like little else. I couldn’t wait to get home and hug my husband and tell him I love him, and hopefully sweep away some of the stupid, petty drama we engaged in this morning. Even though I know in a couple of hours there will probably be even more stupid, petty drama, because we’re human. I’ve been thinking...

Read More

An Interview With Author Kristy Cambron

Everything is new when you become an author for the first time. It’s as if you’ve had this momentum driving you toward publication and when you reach it, there’s this an entirely new world that opens up. How long were you writing before your first publication? I spent fifteen years as a professional writer and speaker before my debut novel was published in 2014. The...

Read More

Fail Like You Mean It! by Kristy Cambron

I fought against my slumping shoulders as I stood in the line at Panera Bread. I had a handful of change – dimes, nickels, and pennies – I’d swiped from the kids’ piggy banks, just to have enough to buy the pastries I needed. It was the morning of the holiday party at my former office in the career I’d walked away from to focus on writing full time. I hadn’t anticipated...

Read More

Kellie Coates Gilbert’s A Woman of Fortune ~ Reviewed

Revell, 2014 BACK COVER: You never know what you're really made of until you lose everything. Texas socialite Claire Massey is living the dream--designer clothes, luxury cars, stunning homes. But everything comes crashing down when her charming cattle broker husband is arrested for fraud. Suddenly she finds herself facing attorneys, a media frenzy, and a trail of broken...

Read More

Devotional: Hard Pressed But Not Crushed

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. (Philippians 3:1 NKJV) I often say that I know we aren’t finished until the moment we step through the veil of time into eternity, but ... We really aren’t finished yet. Sometimes I’m weary just of the sameness of life. Dishes, laundry, getting up, going to work, come home, eat dinner, bedtime, just to do it all over...

Read More

Author James R. Callan Talks About Writing Challenges

96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE ...

Read More