With skillful hands He led them. Psalm 78:72 When you are unsure which course to take, totally submit your own judgment to that of the Spirit of God, asking Him to shut every door except the right one. But meanwhile keep moving ahead and consider the absence of a...

Shush! I'm readin'! Love's Reckoning by Laura Frantz From the book cover: On a bitter December day in 1784, Silas Ballantyne arrives at the door of blacksmith Liege Lee in York County, Pennsylvania. Silas is determined to finish his apprenticeship quickly and move...

I'm back from the WaterBrook Author Retreat. It was intense, educational, motivational: The authors who gathered for this retreat (Joanne Bischof, Katie Ganshert, Mona Hodgson, Meg Moseley, Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark, Kim Vogel Sawyer and me) were given a...

I read a lot of blogs. Many are helpful to me as a writer, or entertaining to me as a reader. Sometimes, though, I find a gem. I've got one of those for you today. It's a two-parter on the subject of interviews (primarily but not exclusively for writers), by author...

Here's a favorite dessert for summer. Since I'm rather deathly allergic to most fresh fruit, this is how I get to enjoy my strawberries. I'm not complaining. 🙂 A tip for making better pie crusts: I started out making pie crusts with Crisco and butter (half and half),...

Recently author Diana Gabaldon gave her readers a blog tour of her research library. While I wish I had the capacious shelves she does (and the avid readers!), my research library-in-the-making is admittedly quite a bit smaller. At present, it's scattered about in...

This week I came across two 18th century research/writing resources that I've been eager to share with my blog readers. I've been reveling in them all week. Now you can too. Firstly: Contemporary Makers is a blog devoted to highlighting contemporary craftsmen and...

Thoughts from my devotional reading this week, which, as a writer who wrote for twenty years before God opened a certain door, I found encouraging... For the vision is yet for an appointed time.... though it linger, wait for it; it will surely come and will not delay....

I knew if I kept at it, didn't get this habit under control, that it was only a matter of time before it happened. How could it be otherwise? But I couldn't stop. I just couldn't. And so last night the inevitable occurred. I reached the last page of the last Big Fat...