“… behind all our fun and games at Christmastime, we should try not to escape a sense of awe, almost a sense of fright, at what God has done. We must never allow anything to blind us to the true significance of what happened at Bethlehem so long ago. Nothing can alter the fact that we live on a visited …
A Few Of My Favorite Things! A Birthday Giveaway
For my birthday on Friday, Dec 7, I’m celebrating you and giving away a few of my favorite things. It starts at midnight tonight and ends midnight on the 7th. (So really, the 6th.)Winners will be announced on Friday! Enter to win by following my FB Page, on Twitter or leaving a comment here! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Christmas Under the Bridge
Happy Monday everyone! It’s finally December. The month of sleigh rides, and silver bells, and flying reindeer. It’s time to bake delectable treats, wrap packages, sing carols, graze at buffet tables filled with delectable holiday treats. Who’s excited? I love Christmas. I love everything about it — from setting up the tree, to picking out gifts, to the smell of …
Talking Leaves and the Power of Story by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
I remember the woman interviewing me was using an actual pad and pen, and I remember how I liked that. It felt good to watch our conversation filling up the pages of her notebook. It reminded me of a quote from Sequoyah, a Native American hero who made it his life’s work to give his people access to the “talking leaves” of the white man. Sequoyah spent twelve …
Lull Between Thanksgiving and Christmas
It’s the lull week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. How are y’all doing? Can you believe K-Mart and Wal-Mart had Black Thursday sales? I’m grieved that we nearly have no true holidays in American anymore. Stores are open seven days a week, sixteen hours a day if not twenty-four. For what? Stuff. I saw a man first in line outside a …
Story Is Everywhere
My husband notices “the look,” a shift in my tone, the way I move the conversation from dialog to firing a hundred questions… He raises his hand to politely interrupt.“I forgot to warn you. She’s a writer. Anything you say can and mostly will end up in her novels. Speak at your own risk.”I can’t help it. People fascinate me. …
Write What You Don’t Know
When it comes to novels, many teachers say, “Write what you know.” I’m a rule-breaker by nature, so of course I did the opposite. I’ve always relied on writing as a tool to help me process the world around me. I especially love to accept freelance assignments with topics that are completely foreign to me. Whether medical articles for healthcare …
The Story Idea Factory by Beth Webb Hart
Now wouldn’t that be nice? A factory where an author could pick a story idea, a well-constructed, tightly-woven plot, some larger-than-life characters, a rich setting, a fitting point-of-view, a universal theme that stirs the soul and just plug it into the computer and go. A story idea factory. I heard they have these for preachers. How about one for authors? …
Where Do the Stories Come From? (by Lisa Wingate)
Happy Monday everyone! Have you recovered from your turkey coma yet? I hope it was a big Thanksgiving where you are. We traveled over the river and through the woods to the mountains of Arkansas, where we gathered the relatives, ate ourselves into oblivion, blew all the diets, and narrowly avoided the eight p.m. black Friday rush at Walmart. While …
Would You Like to Be a Firefly Island Book Ambassador?
Do you love to books? Do you enjoy tweeting about books, sharing through Facebook, putting customer reviews on websites like Amazon.com and Goodreads? My publisher is ramping up to give away 100 early copies of Firefly Island… FREE!If that sounds interesting to you, keep reading below for more information. — What is a book ambassador? Why… someone who spreads the …