Voices

, by

Aloha from Karen Whiting, CAN treasurer Years ago I listened to the voice of my prayer partner over the voice of God. I believed God wanted me to write, but she said she had prayed and believed I wasn’t creative enough and didn’t believe God called me to write. Soon after, military moves separated us and I lost track of her. Looking back, I know God wanted me to listen to him and not the wrong voice. We need a discernment to choose what voices to listen to of the many we hear.

Read More

Let Him Lead

, by

  Hello from Jeanette. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. For me, summer seems to include a lot of movies. Over the weekend I watched one that came highly recommended by my sister Sherry—the Young Victoria. The story followed Queen Victoria as an 18-year-old adjusting to her role as ruler of England. A scene from the end of the film really resonated with me; I couldn’t help applying it to the writing life.

Read More

Celebrating Freedom

, by

Happy Day after Independence Day from Dianne Neal Matthews. Since the 4th came on a Sunday, many people get today off from work. But I’m sure there are plenty of writers out there like me—chained to a desk because of a tight deadline. That hasn’t stopped me from thinking about freedom, though…

Read More

Introducing, the Next Generation of Writers

, by

Happy Monday from Jeanette. Today I walked into one of the 2nd grade classrooms at my youngest son’s school and handed the teacher a stack of books that I’d just finished spiral-binding. “I’ll let you make the announcement,” Miss Anne whispered. She got her class’s attention. Before I could say a word a little girl named Myra squealed, “Our books!” “That’s right. You’re authors!” The King’s Academy 2nd graders had worked hard for weeks on stories about a dog named Ace (inspired by Miss Anne’s dog who gained fame when he had to have his tail amputated—long story), based on…

Read More

Renewed Passion

, by

I love being a writer, but lately I’d been feeling stressed-out, burned-out, just plain bummed-out. So I did the only thing I knew to do: I asked God to renew my passion for my calling and for my current WIP. He answered my prayer, but in an interesting way….

Read More

In the Trenches, Part 2

, by

Hey, writers! Jan here, writing once again with a focus on nonfiction–though the topic today could apply to fiction writers as well. Last month I offered In the Trenches, Part 1, where we looked at how crucial it is to get into our reader’s skin and keep them in mind while we write. We looked at ways we can get closer to our reader—intentional about knowing who they are from multiple angles, including through real conversations. We’re going to take that deeper in this post. Begin by imagining being trapped in a room . . .

Read More

What are We Putting Out There?

, by

  Happy Monday from Jeanette, writing from exciting snowing-one-minute-and-sunny-the-next Reno. I spent most of today, not writing, but talking with my bank’s fraud department. Apparently someone borrowed our account number for some overseas purchases. “That’s it,” I told the bank representative. “Nobody in this family is ever ordering anything online again.” It’s possible that that’s all it took—an innocent purchase put information out there for a sick individual to snatch up for who knows what (make that, I don’t want to know what). It probably took them five minutes to rob us, while it took me hours to undo the…

Read More

Who Are You?

, by

Jan here, writing to you on one of CAN’s devotional Fridays. I have a question for you: Who are you and what are you doing here? I ask that with a chuckle because it stirs a memory of when that very question was asked by my daughter, about three-years-old at the time, to an adult who was attending a dinner at our ministry. She asked the question entirely out of innocent curiosity. Not a bad question to consider. I met with a young man last week who is preparing to transition from the residential ministry where my husband and I live and work. One of…

Read More

In the Trenches, Part 1

, by

Jan here joining you from sunny California. In March, I had the delightful opportunity to mentor writers for one of the Head Start Clinics at Mount Hermon’s Christian Writer’s Conference. A “ridiculous” delight—to use one of my student’s favorite expressions. If you asked any of those in my nonfiction clinic to state one of the most important factors in our writing of successful nonfiction, I have no doubt what their answer would be. They would tell you . . .

Read More