This week, I’m posting a book review, something I haven’t done in a while. The book is A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear. I give this novel five stars. It is the 17th in the Maisie Dobbs series. Once again, Ms. Winspear does not disappoint us. The story opens with …
Recent Blog Posts
Books on My Nightstand
I love to read. Always have. And I’ve long been curious about what my favorite authors read. So I thought I’d share what’s on my nightstand right now. I could share what’s on my Goodreads want to read list, but it’s at nearly 240 and dates to 2012. So many …
Common Writing Obstacles – Taking Risks
Write the Story Writing is risky. And not just in the sense of facing physical danger. Although I’m sure many writers did face physical danger at one time that stimulated or inspired them to write their story. There are other risks every writer faces. More mundane than climbing Mt. Everest, …
Writing Obstacles – Research
We’ve been in a series on Writing Obstacles where we’ve discussed areas that can cause us to stumble while trying to get our story out. We’ve discussed finding the time to write. Do I have the talent to write? Am I perfectionist in my writing? How do I build a …
Common Writing Obstacles—World Building
This is another in the ongoing series about writing obstacles. To date, I’ve covered Time, Talent v Learning, Perfectionism, and Plotting. Today, we’ll look at world building. I think this is one of the more subtle areas of writing and one we frequently pay less attention to. We focus on …
Writing Obstacles—Plotting
If we have a plot with no characters, I’m not sure what we have, but we don’t have a story.
Perfectionism
This is another in the series about common writing obstacles. Perfectionism is the bane of many a writer, even experienced ones. Each story must be perfect or it’s no good. There’s no middle ground. There’s no forgiveness for ourselves. We don’t allow for the fact we’re human, we’re frail, and, …
Obstacles to Being a Writer: Talent Versus Learning
This is another in a series on common obstacles to being a writer. Talent has been described as something you either have or you don’t. You can’t learn it. I and many others disagree with this notion. You can learn to be a writer whether or not you have talent. …
Obstacles to Being a Writer–Who’s Got the Time?
Over the next few blogs, we’ll be exploring some of the most common obstacles every writer faces at least once in their career. We’ll begin with the obstacle of time. “I think I’ve got a book in me if I could only find the time to write.” We’ve all heard …
Why Be a Giver?
Whether we make the time to work with single moms or with disadvantaged or challenged kids, we are showing them they are worthy. For Christians, there is the evangelical aspect of helping others draw close to God because when they meet us, they are meeting Jesus in action through us.