Category Archives: THIS AND THAT

TREE # 2

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Tree number 2 is in our living room. It’s actually smaller than it looks in this picture but adds a festive touch to the evening!

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME….GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

CELEBRATE LIFE–and Christmas!

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Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

There is nothing like a serious health crisis to teach us to number our days!  It started on April Fool’s Day (yes, God does have a sense of humor!) in 2012 and continues still. How it will end? Only God knows. It’s been a long journey for me as well as for my husband. It’s not been easy, but God has taught me much. And one of those nuggets of wisdom is to celebrate life!

Celebrate the big things but even more so the little things.

Celebrate other people’s accomplishments.

Celebrate the mundane, the unusual, and the downright silly.

Celebrate life—it is a gift from God!

For the past several years, we’ve cleared off our enclosed porch and filled it with Christmas cheer! And Christmas trees–lots of them!  It’s just for fun and just for us–no grandbabies around to enjoy it.  When I started experience side effects from my second (and hopefully last) brain tumor treatment much earlier than expected, we decided to forego the Christmas Porch this year.  Too much work and I didn’t feel well enough to help.

But I know my husband……we not only have our Christmas Porch up but we have TWELVE Christmas trees this year. We only had ten, but when I said I’d like to have the twelve days of CHRISTMAS trees, my hubby made it happen! So between now and Christmas, I’m going to share the twelve days of Christmas trees.

Each day, I’ll post a picture of that day’s Christmas tree.

Hope you enjoy them and remember no matter what circumstances you find yourself in–celebrate life! It is truly a gift!

At this time of the year, we have so much to celebrate–the birth of a babe in a lowly manger. A birth that changed the world! So, come celebrate with me as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

 

TREE NUMBER 1:

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UNTIL NEXT TIME….GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

What Am I Thankful For?

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What am I grateful for?

It’s been a difficult year but with out all the encouragement, support, and prayers from family, friends, and all those friends I don’t know personally it would have been more difficult. In spite of the storms I’m going through, God has blessed me in my writing career.

I’ve managed to get two more book contracts! More about them later. Along with that I have a  new book releasing in January–BETRAYED.  And I love this story!!  I think  you will do. BETRAYED answers the question–what kind of woman can be married to a terrorist and not know it?

I am so grateful to have a home filled with love and laughter. And that is thanks to my loving husband.

But what I’m most thankful for is that God has been with me through it all. He has kept me in His peace and joy through this long process. And on the days when I choose to throw myself a pity party, God is patient and is still waiting for me with His strength when I’m done.

So, what’s the point of this post?

Life can be difficult but God is there and God will see you through it.

One way to do that is to focus on all the good things in your life. So, today forget about the bad and remember all the wonderful things in your life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

Wow! What a Revelation!

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Christian writers are different than secular writers.

Most of the ones I know or have contact with worry about whether their writing is truly a call from God or simply a selfish desire on their part. especially when they are pre-published, a sweeter way of saying not published. But the worry doesn’t necessarily go completely away after they get that first coveted contract.

After all, as much as I love reading and writing fiction. And believe me I do!  But it’s still fiction!

I spend months and months writing and rewriting a story and making it as exciting and as interesting as I can for my readers.  They read the book and that’s it! Finished! They close the book or most likely these days, hit the button on the e-reader of their choice and that’s the end.

Most likely they enjoyed it or so I hope, but….what then? Did it touch them? Did it make a difference in their life? Did it clarify something for them in their own daily walk with God?

Those are things I will probably never know on this side of heaven.

Well, anyway back to my awesome weekend revelation I had.

You may or may not know that I was diagnosed with bilateral brain tumors last year and have been having all sorts of issues because of them and their treatment. I am not and most likely will never be quite as healthy as I was pre-brain tumors–unless God chooses to intervene which I pray He will do. But that’s up to Him.

I’ve had memory issues all my life. It made school a bit more difficult for me than it should have been. I’ve always had problems with remembering names and even important life events. I once completely forgot about a trip to North Carolina and through the Smokey Mountains.

Now, it’s even worse! I have trouble remembering a specific word when I need it most. And forget about remembering what I need to do on any given day. Lists are my friends these days! I’m sure it’s noticeable to others, but maybe not as much as to me as I struggle to remember simple words.

Along with the memory issues, I spend a lot of time in a sort of far away being in a bubble feeling. It’s sort of hard to explain that symptom, but it’s there.

But an amazing thing happens when I sit down at my computer to write, whether it’s for a blog such as this or for the current story I’m working on. The fog clears–the words come-the details I need are remembered–most of the time! I feel like my old self as I write. I have clarity as well as vision to write the story God has put on my heart.

This weekend the reason why that happens came to me like a flash of lightning on a dark stormy night. It brightened up my spirit and showed be the blazing of God’s glory and His power.

I am still anointed by God to write!

What an amazing and awesome revelation that is for me or for any Christian writer!  I feel humbled and blessed that God still has a job for me to do in spite of all my health issues and my limitations.

Wow! God is so good!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

 

 

Back to Reality–sort of?

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Well, I’ve been off the grid for the most part for the past month. Between medical treatments, finishing the first round of edits for two upcoming books, and then a well-deserved beach vacation, I have done much with Tiaras & Tennis Shoes. But I’m back now and ready to get back to reality. Well, sort of reality.  As a writer of fiction, my “work” should be anything but reality.

Of course,  there’s the reality of book edits, marketing, social networking, and a ton of other things a writer must do. But those are the things I must put up with to live in the make-believe worlds I get to create.

When I’m in full create mode of writing a new story, I become immersed in the story world I’m creating. So much so that at the end of a writing session, it can take more than a few minutes to come back to  my real world. Even as I sit pretending to listen to my husband, I’m actually worrying about that person–oops, I mean character that I left in peril back in my other world.

The same thing happens when I read a good book. In fact, that’s how I judge whether a book is “good” or  just ok. If the writer can transport me to their created world and I like it there, then they’ve done their job well.

How about you? As a reader or a writer, how do you judge the success of a book? What makes a book special for you? Is it the characters, the setting, the plot, the lessons they’ve learned, or something else?

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

Blood & Guts? Yuck!

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I know!  It doesn’t make sense. I write suspense and mystery novels and yet I hate blood and guts type things, especially in movies and TV. I’ll cover my eyes during really gory parts. My husband laughs and asks how can I write suspense stories and still hide my eyes.

I often respond with “If I liked blood, I would have become a doctor!”

Now, I’m not a fainting type person when I see blood, but I’ve been known to gag a time or two during especially gory scenes.

Being squeamish doesn’t stop me from putting a little blood and guts in my scene if it’s necessary. But it’s not always necessary.

I think good suspense writing comes from putting the reader on the edge of their seat. My goal is to make them turn the page to see what’s going to happen next instead of turning off the light to go to sleep.  The way to do that is to create a story that makes them want to find out the ending rather than describing every horrific scene in graphic detail.

What’s your thoughts? Should suspense writers go for the shock value of blood and guts? Does a good suspense story have to be gory?

UNTIL NEXT TIME…God Bless & Good Reading!

 

Writing Stories of Faith…Mingled With Murder And Mayhem

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Christian fiction and murder mysteries? Really?

On the surface the two don’t seem to go together. After all, how can a book where murders, mayhem, and bad guys abound promote Christian values? Can a writer of suspense novels make a difference in a life? Surely not, you say. It might be good entertainment but that’s where it ends. Not so, I say.

Jesus used stories to teach a point—He called them parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly message! Don’t you just love that definition? I do! Because that means I write parables–how cool is that?

People love stories. Stories can touch our hearts, stir our imagination, and teach us. Stories allow us to see the truth without the actual experience. Stories give us the opportunity to learn, change, and grow without all the growing pains. Didn’t GONE WITH THE WIND teach us that being selfish and self-centered can ruin our life? Didn’t THE FIRM teach us that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is?

As a writer of Christian fiction, I have two goals with every story I write.

The first and most important goal of any novelist should be to create an entertaining story that readers will love. Writers aren’t there to pontificate their own point of view, to preach, teach or nag. A novelist’s job is to entertain. It’s as simple as that!

The second goal is more subtle but just as important as the first. It is to further God’s Kingdom in some way. In other words an earthly story with a heavenly message!

How this happens varies from book to book depending on the specific story. It may be as simple as portraying Christian characters in a positive light in a world where so much of popular culture denigrates Christianity. Other  times my Christian characters increase their own failth because of the circumstances in the book. Other times I show characters living out their faith in the face of difficult situations. And since I write suspense and mysteries, my characters face a lot of those.

Christian fiction has undergone a revolution.

It’s not your mother’s Christian fiction!

Christian fiction has grown up over the past decade. No longer is it sweet simple stories, but rather Christian fiction has become an umbrella term for many different genres. There’s a book out there for almost any taste you have–romance, suspense, mystery, horror, supernatural, science-fiction, or fantasy.  You name it, and there’s probably a Christian writer out there writing it. If not, you might be the one to write the next big thing!

Not sure how to find the type of books you love to read? ACFW’s Fiction Finder is a great place to start and it’s FREE! Visit  http://www.fictionfinder.com/

No matter what you love to read, you should give Christian fiction a chance.

If stories were good enough for Jesus, then they’re good enough for me!