by Cheryl Schuermann Like many young writers, I once dreamed of writing novels set in exotic places with castles and golden-haired princesses with tiny waists. But more than a half century later, I found myself standing at the edge of a farm pond in the muck helping my grandchildren catch tadpoles. And thinking…wow, I see the makings of a devotion here. When this “I’ll never live in the country” city girl married a boy from rural Oklahoma more than fifty years ago, I didn’t realize how I would come to love the country experience. Soon after Stan and I married…
Author: Janet Morris Grimes
This is our archive pageFascinating Fridays: Christian Fiction – A Tool for Evangelism
by Patricia Bradley Then the LORD told me: “I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance” (Habakkuk 2:2 CEV). The Christian fiction genre accounts for nearly 51% of all faith-based book sales, and I believe it is an awesome tool for evangelizing. Not everyone agrees with me, but think about it. Jesus taught by story—parables—short fictional stories with heavenly meanings, but they were stories nonetheless. Stories that listeners were caught up in because Jesus used characters, items, and events from their everyday lives. His listeners could…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Long Unsolved Family Mysteries
by PS Wells Awarded Mystery Suspense of the Year, Unnatural Cause explores two long-unsolved family mysteries rooted in World War II. My profoundly smart coauthor, Max Garwood, is a patent attorney and inventor. Max pitches brilliant plots to me and I craft a novel from his ten bullet points. Unnatural Cause, the recent book in the Marc Wayne Action-Adventure Series, is equal parts Max’s fiction and my truth. My grandmother was one of ten children who grew up in a small, patriotic burg in the Midwest. When the US entered World War II, her oldest sister’s son, who had been…
Fascinating Friday Feature – The Pony Express Tale
by Donna Schlachter Most people know something about the Pony Express, but few realize it only operated fromApril 1860 through to November 1861. The first ride left St. Joseph, Missouri heading west, andfrom Sacramento, California heading east, on April 3rd, 1860. The idea for a Pony Express was conceived in the minds of its owners because of the possibilityof winning the contract for the overland US mail. Another company, Butterworth, was running asouthern route that took up to three weeks to deliver to the west coast, and Majors and Waddellthought they could beat that time by taking the shorter northern…
Fascinating Friday Post – No Fear in Pre-school
Taking a break from writing fiction for a bit, I wanted to share this raw and rare post. As authors, our stories stem from our daily lives, and this process requires honesty at every turn. So here’s a bit of honesty for you – I just left my grandson’s preschool open house. He led me by the hand to the classroom he recognized from last year. His teachers greeted him with warm hugs as they exchanged giggles. They’ve clearly missed each other. The walls of his classroom were decorated in primary colors that spotlighted an airplane theme throughout the entire…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Interview with Diana Leagh Matthews
Q – What has God called you to do where your first thought may have been “Are you kidding me?” In 2004, I served a church as minister of music. Over the course of six months, three different people came to me and said, “You should be in the ministry.” I laughed it off. “Yeah right. God, I’m no preacher.” At the time, I thought being in the ministry meant being a minister. As a PK (preacher’s kid), I knew that wasn’t the life for me. For three years, I fought the calling but the Lord revealed to me that…
Transforming Personal Stories into Powerful Insights
Susan Neal Stories have always been a profound tool for connecting, teaching, and inspiring. Jesus himself used parables—simple stories used to illustrate moral or spiritual lessons. I, Susan Neal, have woven personal and relatable stories throughout my latest book, 12 Ways to Age Gracefully: How to Look and Feel Younger, to help illuminate complex health concepts and encourage a proactive approach to aging. One of the most personal chapters in the book, Keep Your Brain Young, delves into the critical issue of brain health through the lens of my family’s experiences. My mother suffered a stroke at eighty-five, which led…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Glory in the Ordinary
by Cheryl Schuermann I never entertained the thought of writing a devotional book. That is, until I met the church doors. We discovered them in a lonely metal shed on The Farm, the recreational land my in-laws purchased many years prior. Amid flying dust and a thick curtain of cobwebs, my husband and I cleaned the doors with rags just enough to reveal the arched glass panels and heavy brass handles and hinges. Though the doors were not ornate, we found them to be extraordinary. Before he passed, my father-in-law mentioned how he rescued several doors from the old church…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Standing in My Settings
Research is one of my favorite parts of writing, and I took to traveling, if at all possible, to the locations of my novels in the past few years. Actually standing in the place where my story happens has made my writing richer and deeper, as I can weave in the sights, smells, and sounds of a place along with the emotions it stirs up. For my most recent release, What I Promise You, I traveled to Barcelona and Southwest France, and along the way, I picked up quite a few interesting tidbits. First of all was the geography. When…
Fascinating Friday Feature – The Hidden Stories Behind the Writing Journey
by Lee Ann Mancini In the world of writing, each author has their own story behind the scenes, often hidden in theirdaily routines and unexpected sparks of inspiration. For me, it all starts bright and early at 5 am,with a hot cup of coffee, a conversation with God, my Bible in hand, and a deep dive intoresearch. Looking back on how it all began, my Sea Kids children’s books were born from the stories Imade up and told my kids to help them understand how God wanted them to deal with everydaysituations in life. Back then, I had no idea…
Recent Posts
Fascinating Friday – Catch the VisionDecember 13, 2024- Fascinating Fridays: Christian Fiction – A Tool for EvangelismNovember 8, 2024
- Fascinating Friday Feature – Long Unsolved Family MysteriesOctober 12, 2024