How often have you ended a prayer with “in Jesus’ name”? We say it so often, it has almost become a tagline. But how did this practice begin? Several verses in the New Testament tell us to pray in Jesus’ name, including: However, this phrase may not mean what most of us think it does! In ancient times before planes, trains, and automobiles, rulers did not have theconvenience of making a phone call or sending a telegram to convey their orders.Instead, the king would send his emissary to a distant location. And the emissary wouldsay, “I come in the name…
Category: Writing craft
This is our archive pageFascinating Friday Feature – Creative Droughts?
Writer’s Block. You often hear this term mentioned as if that inner mechanism that helps writers spew out strings of meaningful words is somehow turned off. Stuck. Out of order until further notice. This may happen at times, but for me, it goes much deeper than that. Personally, I can always write. Give me a blank journal page, and I’ll ask enough questions to figure out how I’m thinking and the reason for it. My handwritten notes are part prayer and part praise. A partial download of the heaviest parts of the previous day, along with a partial discovery of…
The Fascinating (Condensed) History of Alaska
By Donna Schlachter In keeping with celebrating my second Switchboard Sisterhood book, Morgana, I thought I’d sharesome history of Alaska this month. While the area was likely settled thousands of years ago by emigrants from Asia and Eastern Europewho perhaps crossed a land passage, few details are available about these early settlers. They eventuallyestablished themselves and spread out over the area, becoming unique in their language and culture.In 1728. Vitus Bering from Denmark traveled into the area and discovered the strait now namedafter him. He returned in 1741 and explored the North American coastline. In 1776, the year the United…
Fascinating Friday Feature –
A behind-the-scenes peek at writing. I begin each new book with…get ready for it… “Now, how do I do this?” Every single book. One would think after sixteen novels, I wouldn’t have to ask this question. So, why would I? That’s another question I ask at the start of each book. Why is this so hard? Well, if it were easy, everyone would write a book, right? Still…even when I follow the brief synopsis I submit to my publisher for the book, I struggle with getting started, mostly because the actual story rarely follows what I submitted. Take Counter Attack,…
Who said I wanted to be an author?
I was in fifth grade when my teacher interrupted my daydream, “Linda, I don’t care if you do grow upto be a famous author, I’m going to teach you math so you can balance your royalty statements.” My classmates turned to stare at me, while I stared back at my teacher in shock, thinking, An author? Who ever said I wanted to be an author? Even though Mrs. Davis’ words foretold my future, I didn’t get it, dream about it, or add ‘writing abook’ to my life’s goals. Instead, when I graduated from college, I got a job in the…
9-1-1. What is your emergency?
“This is 9-1-1. What is your emergency?” I don’t often reflect publicly on the fifteen years I served as a 9-1-1 Operator and Police Dispatcher for the city of Nashville. This was my first career-type job as a somewhat sheltered eighteen-year-old girl, and I was quickly stationed on the midnight shift where all the action took place. Each night at 10:00 p.m., I proudly donned my navy blue civilian uniform and entered through security gates, metal detectors, and controlled access doors into a windowless room with nothing but computer screens in every direction. We served as the hub of activity…
How Can God Be Jealous?
by Ava Pennington In the process of writing Reflections on the Names of God, I enjoyed exploring so many familiar names and attributes of our awesome God. But as I continued to dig deeper into His names and attributes, I came across several that were difficult to understand. For example, Exodus 34:14 tells us one of God’s names is Jealous because He is a jealous God. Saying God is jealous sounds strange, doesn’t it? Jealousy is a powerful emotion. It can devastate relationships and destroy lives. So why would the eternal, sovereign, almighty God name Himself jealous? When God says He is a jealous…
Right On Time
by Michelle Medlock Adams I was in the window seat, thumbing through a magazine, just waiting for the plane to take off when a mother and her young daughter sat down next to me. “Don’t worry, babe,” the mom comforted. “You’re going to be all right.” But the little girl didn’t seem so sure. She fidgeted, hid her face in her stuffed unicorn, and eventually, her tears flowed. She was afraid. Very afraid. The mom in me wanted to help. I was so thankful I had listened to that still small Voice when I packed my…
A Missing Persons Primer
by Sarah Hamaker As a writer of romantic suspense, I’ve always been fascinated by missing persons, especially adults who simply disappear into thin air, leaving behind more questions than answers. According to Statista Research Department, more males than females go missing in the 21 and older category, while the opposite is true in the younger than 21 category. According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics as of December 31, 2021, the NCIC registered 93,718 active missing person records. Juveniles under 18 years of age account for 30,400 (32 percent) of the records…
On the Way to Perfection
by Joan C. Benson When an author completes a book, s/he wants it perfected before submitting it to an agent or publisher. The author has read and reread the manuscript multiple times and revised and revised it with the best of their expertise. Nothing but the best work should be considered for submission. In my case, my first novel took years to finish. No, it didn’t take years of writing, but years of retrieving it from the bottom of my to-do list. After all, I was paid for contract writing, my proverbial squeaky wheel. Once I finished polishing the manuscript,…