By Martha Boswell Scripture: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways…” ~Isaiah 55:8 (NKJV) Growing up, I had three brothers who played baseball. Since my dad was a pastor and a sports enthusiast, our lives revolved around worship services and practice schedules. My first word—after ‘Mama and Daddy’—was ‘ballgame.’ Most afternoons my stroller was …
Who Does the World Say You Are?
By Tara Johnson Writers, let me ask you a question today: Who does the world say you are? In her book The Wind in the Door, Madeline L’Engle explores a powerful truth: names matter. In the story, she shows that when someone misnames you, when they call you something other than who you really are, it diminishes you. It strips …
The Runaway Character
By Joni M. Fisher @authorjonimfisher Did you ever have a character demand a bigger part in the story? Luigi Pirandello wrote a play titled Six Characters in Search of an Author in which characters, who were created but never used, barge into a rehearsal and demand to be included in a production. That reality-twisting, groundbreaking play premiered in 1921. While …
After the Mountaintop: Writing When the Glow Wears Off
by Jeffrey Friedel @JeffersonRiede Who knew there were mountaintops in Springfield Missouri? I don’t know about you, but this year’s ACFW conference sure felt like one. The worship. The keynotes. The laughter. The long talks with fellow writers who get you. There was clarity and calling and coffee (so much coffee). Some of us walked away with book contracts or …
When Your Muse is Hurting
by Chandra Lynn Smith When I scheduled my blog post dates for the year, of course I had no idea about what topics I might choose. Initially, I thought it might be about the changing of the seasons and how while summer is my favorite season and I am not a fan of pumpkin spice—yes I typed that—I might share …
Alone with God at Writers Conferences
by Marilyn Turk I stepped outside the room where my writer friends were chatting together to take a breath. I didn’t mean to be unsociable, but I needed some morning quiet time I had missed that day and needed to adjust my focus. When I’m at home, I get up before my husband does and embrace the quiet of the …
Visible Virtues: Prayerful Prudence
by Christine Sunderland @Chrisunderland A note from Christine: This post is dedicated to Charlie Kirk and his family Today is September 11, or “Nine-Eleven” as we recall it twenty-four years later, when the infamous and horrific attack by radical Islamists on New York’s World Trade Center buildings woke America from her sleep. It was a path chosen by those pilots, …
Surfing on Ink
by Dr. Dwight David Croy Work follows an exciting idea when writing. Life is often full of excitement with highs of adrenaline. The workflow of a writer is exhilaration, write a bunch, slow down, back to reality, slow down, concentrate on the mechanics, reality. Just like a surfer who catches the wave, rides high, determined, initial ideas die out, the …
You’ve Gone to Conference. You’re Home. Now What?
by Rachel Hauck In my early days of conference going, I came home jazzed with ideas, energized from time spent with friends and fellow authors. I had notes from the workshops and was always inspired by the keynote speaker. In those way-back-days, the publishing world was fairly static. For an author to publish, he or she worked with an agent …
Take the Next Step
by Donald L. Reavis Twelve years ago today, my son and I reached the Canadian border on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Five months earlier, we had stood at the southern border, filled with excitement and apprehension. Ahead of us stretched a pathway that crossed sweltering deserts, snow-covered mountain passes, raging rivers, and scores of thunderstorms. After a few minutes …