I've been thinking about this series because it's still popular and it's been out a while. (That's one advantage to writing historical fiction--it's never dated, because it started OLD.) The Cahira O'Connor series was born when Lisa Bergren, novelist and editor extraordinaire, was acquiring fiction for WaterBrook. She knew I was writing historicals, so she contacted me to see if I'd want to do … [Read more...]

 I've never paid too much attention to the book of Ecclesiastes, and have even heard that Solomon was a little off his rocker when he wrote it near the end of his life.  By then, of course, he had been pulled away from his devout love of God by his foreign wives, who influenced him to do all sorts of terrible and idolatrous things. But Ecclesiastes is chock full of wisdom--it's just a sort of … [Read more...]

If you love Israel, if you want to help support many small businesses and farmers who have been hard hit by the war in Israel (most of the men were called into service), then you should check out Lev Olam. For about $100 a month, you will receive a gift box of goods from these small businesses and farmers--each box is focused on a theme, and a typical box includes cosmetics made in Israel, olive … [Read more...]

Several years ago, I wrote a book on spec, and it wasn't exactly what the publisher wanted, so I wrote them another one. That first manuscript sat in a drawer. Many times I pulled it out and tried to reshape it, but it never came together and I always had another book waiting in the wings. Well. For the past couple of months, I've been working on that book. It has gone through more … [Read more...]