By KD Holmberg Over a decade ago, my five children slowly began to drift into their own lives. I knew my time as a full-time mom was coming to an end, but the days passed quicker than expected. Before I knew it, I was helping my baby move into a college dorm. Honestly, I left her school feeling a bit …
Using Setting as a Spiritual Takeaway
By Sally Jo Pitts Last night while watching this sunset with my grandson and daughter-in-law, she commented, “God created amazing scenery for us to enjoy.” God’s first setting was the Garden of Eden—the environment intended for us … until the fall of man. But did you know there are places in the world in which people have low rates of …
Capturing Gems
I’m in my 75th year of life, so believe me when I say there’s been a lot. A lot of joy. Sorrow. Pain. Fear. Success and failure. Faith and doubt. You name it; I’ve probably experienced it. It hasn’t been hard to remember the gems—those events so laced with emotion that I can feel them now. But all these years …
Tips for Fighting the Dreaded Writer’s Block
By Amy Clipston Through the years I’ve found that my book projects fall into two categories—they either write themselves or writing them feels like having my teeth drilled. In other words, the characters either tell me the story or I push them through the story as if they were dead weight. My novella “Bundles of Blessings” included in the collection …
ACFW New Releases: March 2021
March 2021 New Releases More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website Biblical: Miriam’s Song by Jill Eileen Smith — In her eventful lifetime, Miriam was many things to many people: protective older sister, song leader, prophetess, leper. But between the highs and the lows, she was a girl who dreamed of freedom, …
Using Secrets in our Stories
By Darlene L. Turner Have you ever kept a secret from your mom as a kid? I did one time… “Don’t tell Mom,” I said to my brother Murray. “She’ll kill me!” Once again, I didn’t listen to my mom and decided to take our friend’s 5-speed bike for a ride. We had pleaded with Mom, but she wasn’t ready …
Unmasking Righteousness
By Christine Sunderland In my recently released novel, Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock Publishers), the hermit Abram calls for repentance, crying from a precipice, preaching to a gathering in the meadow below. He does not mask his words or his face. He tells the truth as he has been told to do. As Anglicans, we observed Ash Wednesday last week, …
Finding Purpose, Promise, and Blessing in Writing
By KD Holmberg As a woman of a ‘certain age,’ I embarked on a writing journey I didn’t plan, know what to expect, or even have a destination in mind. Like the patriarch Abraham in Genesis, God spoke to me as a friend, and on May 12th, 2006, He gave me a purpose, a promise, and a blessing. I attended …
How Many Hats Do You Wear a Day?
By Glynn Young The hats we writers wear can seem awfully heavy. The hat we wear every day is the writer’s hat. This is what we do. This is what we’re about. We’re here to tell a story, and that can be difficult enough. It looks like a baseball cap. We learn to write by listening, memorizing, and repetition. We …
Discouragement Is a Choice
By Henry McLaughlin One given in the writing world is we will get discouraged. An area where I’ve been discouraged is when a story doesn’t work. My fingers are like stones on the keyboard. What seemed like a great story idea flickers like a dying fire. The plot is what my Italian friends call a frittata. The characters are flat …