Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

When Discouragement Meets God’s Word

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In October, I battled a bit of depression in general and discouragement over my career as an author in particular. A number of things played into those negative feelings, including having to put my almost 14-year-old cat to sleep. I got Pinky as part of my breast cancer recovery (I wanted some “new life” in the house during treatment so got a kitten). Losing her hurt, especially since it was … [Read more...]

Camping at Walmart

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Last time I told you about the beautiful sites and wonderful adventures we've had on our month-long tour of the New England states. This time, I'm going to share the not-so-fun parts of our trip—just so nobody thinks that traveling in a camper is always fun and games and joy, joy, joy. I'll start by telling you that we woke up in a Walmart parking lot on Saturday morning. Boondocking in a … [Read more...]

Sheet Cake Reader Retreat

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I spent last weekend at the Sheet Cake Reader Retreat in the countryside of Central Texas! Sweet rom com author Emma St Clair lives in Texas like I do and she's the one who organized the retreat and invited me to attend. The only author I'd met in person beforehand was Pepper Basham, though Christian romance authors Mandi Blake and Liz Isaacson were also in attendance. The rest of the authors … [Read more...]

AI and Managing Time

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The other day I was on LinkedIn and saw a friend who teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University post about asking ChatGPT to tell her who she was. I had done something similar six months ago about my writing, and the results weren't great (hers weren't either six months ago). Yet, this time around she was pretty impressed with how the AI engine captured the essence of who she was. I decided to rerun a … [Read more...]

Outpouring of Love

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Hi friends,It’s so good to be back with you. Many of you may not know but  Becky kindly covered my last blog post for me. My family and I moved from Maryland to Florida. We were there a couple of weeks, and Hurricane Helene hit and flooded our house with four feet of water. Given we’d just moved, most of our belongings were still in boxes on the floor. Everything was in boxes, and … [Read more...]

Research Challenges & A New Release | Guest Post by Erica Vetsch

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Thank you to Julie Klassen for kindly inviting me to share about my newest release here and a little of the research that went into it. A Thieving at Carlton House is the first book in the Of Cloaks & Daggers series. Here’s a bit about the book: The Home Office has asked Sir Bertrand Thorndike to head an investigation into stolen royal jewels. It's the perfect chance for Bertie to step … [Read more...]

He Will Call You Home

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The recent rains and flooding have really destroyed our largest chicken coop. Hubby and I were trying to support the sagging structure a couple of weeks ago when two hens escaped. (I won't say who left the door open). One of the girls is friendly, so I caught her in no time. But the other one is skittish, and the more we tried to catch her, the more she ran--in fact, she ran into this tall stand … [Read more...]

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