Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

A Gift From the Past

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My parents live in California, where I was born and raised.  They come to Texas for frequent visits, however, and on one recent visit my dad gave me a savings bond that my Great Grandmother Monninger had given to me when I was little.  He'd filed it away for safekeeping alongside other documents and as the years -- then the decades -- slid past had forgotten about it.  When he came across it a few … [Read more...]

Ebooks or Paper? Do You Care?

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The other day I woke up dreaming about the ebook v. paperback debate. It’s something authors do. Something readers probably understand. I am a give-me-a-physical-book-I-can-hold kind of reader. You see, while I’m an author I adore books! It’s not unusual for me to inhale two or three a week while managing the rest of my life including homeschooling, lecturing, and writing. I read like I … [Read more...]

Bible Art Journaling & Me

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A few weeks ago, I had an email in my Inbox from a reader who wanted to know what a journaling Bible is. After answering the email, I decided to blog about it, so I wrote the following post for robinleehatcher.com. Because I have mentioned Bible art journaling in some of my Inspired by Life and Fiction posts, I decided to share the post with my friends here. First, what is a journaling … [Read more...]

Spiritual NICU

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It is a pleasure to welcome my friend, Christine Bierma, as my guest on this week's post. Christine is a talented young writer who posted this touching story on her blog, atrustworthysaying.com. We both know Baby Lucy's parents and continue in prayer for this precious little one who was born at only 28 weeks. Recently I've spent many days inside the halls of the Rush University NICU while a … [Read more...]

Is SACRIFICE a dying concept in today’s world?

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Sacrifice. Let’s be honest. That word isn’t particularly popular, especially in today’s me-centered culture. Most of the time, we’re conditioned by the world around us through advertisements, commercials, magazines, movies, TV, and even social media to focus on ourselves. We’re bombarded with messages that draw our attention to what we should buy next, what we should wear, how we should feel, … [Read more...]

Dime Novels – The Birth of the Paperback

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Right around the start of the Civil War, Erastus and Irwin Beadle published a new series of cheap paperbacks entitled Beadle's Dime Novels. Thanks to increased literacy rates among the American people during this time, and the inexpensive price (yes, they truly did cost a dime), these thin, paper-bound books met with huge success. Their debut novel - Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter, … [Read more...]

A Room with a View

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We're moving again. But only about five miles up the road. After growing up on a farm in South Georgia and living in the same house until I was an adult, I've moved a lot in my life. On the farm, we didn't own the old house we lived in but my daddy bought a cute little house in town and decided to retire and move my mama (and me, the last remaining child at home and the baby of seven children). … [Read more...]

If only graves could speak…

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This past Sunday, Joe and I took a quick day trip to see some friends in Winchester, Tennessee. While there, the four of us went on a long walk, and we strolled all around the neighborhood. Curt and Dana had mentioned that there were some "old graves" back in the woods. So, of course, I made a beeline for the woods! These graves were originally located by a church that stood in Winchester … [Read more...]

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