One of the aspects of doing research for my novels that I really love is finding a story line that hasn’t occurred to me. That’s exactly what happened when I went to Montana last summer to research my Amish of Sky Country series. I intended to write three books, each about a different Amish friend… Read More
Smoke jumper interview enriches Montana novel
One of the most challenging parts of being a novelist is writing authentically and with detail on topics about which I know nothing. It’s like being a newspaper reporter again. Which means doing my research. Readers rightly expect writers to create a fictional world based on accurate details. So I do my best and learn… Read More
Christians, love thy neighbor on social media. Please!
Recently, my Christian fiction writing group had a discussion, trying to decide if we should have a session to discuss the pros and cons of using social media as a platform for what we believe as Christians. When important social issues are discussed, should we sit on the fence, remain silent, or attempt to influence… Read More
Come on, boomers, “today’s kids” are our kids
I can’t count the number of times over the past year I’ve heard someone start a sentence with “the younger generation today” or “today’s kids” followed by something negative. They don’t want to work. They’re lazy. They have short attention spans. They’re all about immediate gratification. Each time it’s so jarring, it feels like a… Read More
Reconciliation requires stubbornness–I mean perseverance
As the year winds down, it’s naturally a time of retrospection. At the beginning of the year I chose as “my” word reconciliation. I vowed to reconcile myself to my limited mobility and the changes in my body caused by chronic illness. With only a few weeks left in 2018, I decided to see how… Read More
Prayer and the rest of the story
If I recorded my prayer conversations with God, they would sound something like this: Hey God, how’s it going? Yeah, I know. I forgot our appointment yesterday. Go ahead and put it on my tab. I’ll pay up one of these days. It’s already paid for? Cool. Thanks. I’m fine. Of course, you know that’s… Read More