Mining For Gold

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We think of gold primarily as either bullion or jewelry, but the precious metal has many other uses. In the old days, it was used for tooth fillings and even the odd false tooth. Nowadays, uses range from industrial to medical, to agricultural. For instance, gold is used to treat pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is liquefied, injected into muscle tissue, and reportedly helpful in 70 percent of cases.  Writing historical fiction doesn’t only mean researching the time period of the book’s setting. For my newest release, Miss Wetherham’s Wedding, my heroine owns the controlling number of shares in…

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Writing is Like Fighting…

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Happy Friday! Today CAN member Carla Hoch inspires us with writing perspectives told from a fighter’s point of view. Mohammed Ali estimated that over the course of his career he had been hit about 29,000 times. Twenty-nine thousand! Now, I don’t know how many of you have been punched in the face, but it ain’t fun. A solid punch can rock you to your core. And, after the fact, you are sore in places you never thought you’d be. Including your spirit. Writing is a lot like fighting. You pour your heart into it and sometimes the “win” doesn’t come….

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Why I Wrote Love Stays True

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When my dad began going through papers and documents in his files, He found three letters he gave to me because he knew I was writing a historical novel series. One of the letters was dated 1857 and was addressed to my great-grandmother Sallie from her father. Another one was dated November, 1864 and was written by my great-grandfather to Sallie before he went into the battle at Nashville and was captured. The third was to Sallie from a friend talking about the war. I treasured those letters and tucked the away to a safe place because I knew I…

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Why I Write Happily Ever After Endings

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I’ve experienced God’s happily-ever-afters in my life many times since I became a Christian at age twenty-one. I suffered a difficult childhood. When the Lord made me a new creation in Christ Jesus, He began my emotional healing that transformed me into the happy, content person I am today. Again, when my first husband died early in our marriage leaving me with almost no money and two young children, I learned first-hand the Lord does take care of His children. When the first love of my life died, I felt physically torn in half. I often looked down at my…

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Politics & Personnel–All in a Day’s Work

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I’ve never been a police chief—but I spent many years of my career in public education serving as a high school superintendent. The day I realized the overlap between those two positions was the day Jo Oliver was born. In the early years, I interviewed women and men (mostly men) police officers and had the privilege of participating in a few ride-alongs. As a member of the International Thriller Writers Association, I enthusiastically joined in on the FBI workshops hosted by the Manhattan FBI during our annual summer conference. It wasn’t until I heard a dear friend and local police…

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The Story Behind the Story of Risk Management     

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  Peru. Its people call me back. Which is why I set Carly’s finale book in Peru. As a tribute to her, because she kept calling me back, to write yet another story about her. The first time I visited Peru, I learned about hidden temples and jungle monsters. I thought, “Carly could have a mystery here.” Peru was the perfect backdrop to Carly’s finale book as she made decisions about her future. Forced by health issues to slow down, pushed into a corner until she made a choice about the direction and the content of her faith life, Carly…

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Where Do Faith and Technology Intersect?

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Behold, I will do something new— Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?  Isaiah 43:19 As I sit on my screen porch, luxuriating in my Wisconsin summer morning ritual, coffee at hand, dog at my feet and a cacophony of avian praise in the background, I cultivate ideas for my new book. Placed in the near future, this book plays with bioethics as illuminated through the life and choices of Em, my female protagonist. Facing her own mortality in the guise of a terminal disease, vexed with arthritis and the quotidian irritations of aging, she…

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Get Registered for SoCAL Christian Writers’ Conference by July 3, 2020!

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2020 SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference is next week! If you’re longing for the benefits of a writers’ conference this year, I hope you’ll check out the virtual SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference. It’s happening next week, July 8–11. In this live, interactive conference, you can learn from and meet with agents, acquisitions editors, and established authors through morning continuing sessions, afternoon workshops, and one-on-one appointments. Three-day morning Continuing Sessions include Fiction, Nonfiction, Writing for Children, Screenwriting, Speaking, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy Writing. Afternoon Workshops include a full schedule of sessions in screenwriting, fiction writing, and publishing, plus classes on Marketing, The Writing Life, and specialty topics such as…

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There’s an App for That

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by Judith Couchman Recently I ate lunch with Heather, a former coaching client who became a friend. She talked about an app that helps her learn to write better, catching mistakes and suggesting ways to improve. I recognized Heather’s sincere desire to write well, and that impressed me. Many writers new to the craft want to skip over writing principles and dart straight to publishing and social networking. Heather felt so excited about this method for improving her manuscript, I couldn’t help but absorb her enthusiasm. Later at home, online I researched writing apps. After typing “Writing Apps” into my…

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