By Molly Jebber Are you courageous? Are you struggling to find the courage to do something Jesus Christ is asking you to do? I can empathize. Courage is hard sometimes. I was a Director for Pharmaceutical Research, and I needed a change. Jesus Christ had been pricking my conscience to seek a new job for many reasons. But I was …
I Have a Voice!
by Kathy Harris If you’re going to get heard, you can’t just raise your voice. You’ve got to set yourself apart, showing you have something special to say, and that you have a unique way of saying it. — Jeff Goins, author, blogger, speaker I could barely squeak out my words much less raise my voice over the holidays after …
A Blurred Starting Line
By Shirley E. Gould According to the calendar, today is the first day of winter. With the variety of weather conditions across America you could have three feet of snow on the ground or be basking in the warm sunshine along the coast. We, in middle Tennessee, had an endless summer with a serious drought, basically two weeks of fall …
The Joy and Surprise of Writing With
By Chandra Lynn Smith A couple of years ago at the ACFW conference I was privileged to take Allen Arnold’s continuing session. It was a most amazing blessing! (That’s my exclamation point use for the day.) During our opening session he had a stack of spiral-bound notebooks. He walked around the room and gave a notebook to each of us. …
From Disaster to Discovery
By Kathryn Haueisen Until I retired, most of my writing was work-related non-fiction. Critique groups, beta readers, and launch teams were all new concepts to me. I wrote my first novel without a critique group; didn’t yet know what a beta reader was; and didn’t get help with a book launch until the book was at the printer. I had …
Skydiving – Shifting Our Writer Expectations
by Deborah Clack My stomach dropped, but my feet were still on the ground. Staring at a man who was four inches shorter than my five feet nine, all I could think to myself was, “This is not who I thought I would be jumping out of an airplane with.” When I initially decided to do the insane and go …
To Follow a Dream
By Chandra Lynn Smith I entered my first Genesis contest in 2002 before it was the Genesis Contest. I think about that pitiful entry now and feel very sorry for the judges who struggled through reading it. The thing is my brave move to enter the contest was the beginning of quite a journey. In August of 2003, I attended …
Perseverance and Dreams
By Darlene L. Turner Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:4 (NIV) What happens when our well-thought out plans for our writing journey start falling apart? We receive rejection upon rejection. We get to the point where we shudder every time that dreaded ding announces an incoming email. …
Can God Use Your Writing?
By Tammie Fickas Can God use you for His glory? Do you ever wonder about that? Writers are often their own worst critics, and the enemy loves to capitalize on that. He can get your thoughts all tied up in knots until you are certain that your life has nothing of value to offer in written word, and that God …
Battling the Chickenhawks of Writing
by Laurel Blount Let’s talk about chickenhawks–and writing. My sister and her husband recently adopted a beautiful little girl, and our whole family fell in love. Hayleigh is spunky and and refreshingly honest–as three year olds tend to be. My sis, previously blessed with an adorable, rough-and-tumble little boy, has entered the world of pink dresses and oversized hair ornaments. …