Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

ACFW 2023

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My apologies for being late with this post this morning. Yesterday Ken and I returned from the 2023 American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in St. Louis and I've been playing catch-up since then. But oh, what a wonderful conference it was, and I have some fun photos to share of our time in St. Louis! The conference ran from Thursday through Sunday morning and was packed with activity! … [Read more...]

Awesome European Readers

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In this post, I detailed some of the highlights of the road trip my family and I took through Germany, Switzerland, and The Netherlands in late May-early June. In this post, I'm celebrating some of the awesome European readers that I was honored to meet along the way. German reader Bettina (pictured above) sent me a lovely, encouraging email a few years back. My novels haven't been translated … [Read more...]

The many choices an author makes

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This week was the first week of classes at Purdue AND Acfw board meetings and conference in St. Louis. I also had Art of Deception release Tuesday in the Come What May suspense collection. To say it's a bit of a blur is an understatement. It's also been filling for my soul. I love teaching. And I love writing and being with my writing friends. But I'm also tired. So today I thought I'd … [Read more...]

Author Adventures

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Hi friends and Happy Wednesday!  Writing is a solitary profession. Writing your books can only be done by you. And, it means long hours in the chair, hands on the keyboard. Or, in my case, pen on paper. But it doesn’t have to be completely solitary. There’s the beauty and gift of writing friends. Friends who brainstorm with you, who help you out, who celebrate with you during the highs, … [Read more...]

Fleeing Distractions

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After a stressful time that had somewhat drained my creativity and focus, I found myself behind on writing the first draft of next year’s book. (Don’t worry, this year’s novel, A Winter by the Sea (releasing December 2023) is written and edited and on its merry way through production. 😊) Hoping to flee distractions and get back on track, I went on a solo writing getaway for a few days. I … [Read more...]

Cock-a-doodle Roo!

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Four months ago, I hatched nine Silky chicks. They were/are adorable, and now they're mature. I have them all in a separate coop, and it's been fun to listen to the roosters learning to crow. One of them sounds like one of those old "a-oooo-gah" cars--know what I mean? He's really chesty and raspy and masculine. Another sounds like he has asthma and can't get his breath--or like he's too … [Read more...]

Summer Reading

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Well, I don’t have a major anniversary ❤️❤️❤️ to share with you like Becky and Deb. Nor do I have an exciting story to relate like Tammy with her TWO totaled vehicles 🚙🚗 that were parked in front of her home. My week has been spent primarily on the phone 📱 with support people at QuickBooks after making the decision to move my corporate accounting to a different version. Nothing ever goes … [Read more...]

Word Nerd

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I'm not enough of a word nerd to sit around reading the dictionary in my spare time, but I do love learning the stories behind how certain words came about. As a historical author, there are many times when I will stop in order to look up a word I want to use to ensure it existed in the 1800s. I've learned that there are many words that sound vintage that didn't come into existence until the 1920s … [Read more...]

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