Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

A Head Full of Characters … and Confusion

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Writers who write and publish on a regular basis are often juggling more than one story at a time.  Readers may wonder why, when they say to an author, “I loved it when Character A did XYZ,” that the author stares back at them with a deer-in-the-headlights look. That’s because the author is searching desperately through the old memory bank for that book’s particular information. At … [Read more...]

Book Settings – The Inexpensive Travel Agency

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Every year I host a Reading Challenge in my Posse group on Facebook where each month hosts a different theme. Some themes center around the covers, some on the authors, but I do my best to include at least one theme each year that centers on settings. One of my favorite things about reading is having a story transport me to another place and time. To experience the culture of the characters and … [Read more...]

Two 80th Birthdays

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We spent last week celebrating two new octogenarians!  My mom turned 80 on August 28. We celebrated big in July, with much of the family enjoying Park City, Utah, for a few days. But Mom was quick to remind us during that vacation that she wasn’t 80 yet!  On her actual birthday, we gathered a few of the grandchildren who were unable to make it to Utah as well as all three of her … [Read more...]

Are you a recipe fanatic?

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Scrolling through recipe videos, watching cooking shows, and even reading cookbooks is a favorite past time. I especially love revisiting my Mom's cookbooks with all her markings and notations. Talk about a treasure. I made Mom's banana pudding yesterday for Labor Day, which—I discovered while searching through recipes—is almost identical to Ina Garten's, aka The Barefoot Contessa. How on earth … [Read more...]

The Bible is not Fiction

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As you may know, I'm currently writing what is known as "biblical fiction" (the term makes me cringe, because if it's biblical, the biblical part shouldn't be fiction). My current book is about Sarah. Nearly every story in it either came from the Bible or from The Book of Jasher, an ancient text that is not considered inspired, but boy, is it interesting! Nearly all of the biblical novelists I … [Read more...]

A Sister’s Love

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I'm the oldest of three sisters and so it feels like an honor to tell you a story today about a sister's love. My history with Stacy Simmons began seven years ago when Lynne Gentry and I felt led to mentor a group of Dallas-area aspiring authors of Christian fiction. Stacy was one of the women who attended our meetings right from the start. We met for YEARS. In fact, about half of these … [Read more...]

The British Are Coming Box Set

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Since today is not a regular blogging day for any of our authors, I thought I would let readers know about my BookBub Featured Deal running this week. The first two books in the British Are Coming series are in a box set, and it is on sale for the Kindle/Kindle app for only 99¢ until Saturday the 31st. So if you love historical romance, this may be the time for you to grab these … [Read more...]

The Power of Words

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Happy Wednesday, friends!  As authors, we deal with words, and I’d venture to say we’re enthralled with them—striving to use just the right words to convey what we want to say. I listened to a sermon the other day. It was about Caleb, his hope and finishing strong. The Israelites in the wilderness were the opposite. I don’t know about you, but I want to be like Caleb. Trusting in God in … [Read more...]

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