Lessons from the Greatest Game Ever Played

, by

  Over Memorial Day weekend, my sons and I watched the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played. If you’ve never seen it, Shia LaBeouf stars in the true story of Francis Ouimet, a working-class kid who falls in love with golf during the early 1900s. Read on to see what this could possibly have to do with writing.

Read More

So Glad I Obeyed

, by

Happy Thursday from Jeanette! Last month I was getting ready to head off to Mount Hermon, open to whatever God wanted to say or do. For the first time in fifteen+ years of attending this conference, I was not submitting or pitching anything. I’ll confess that I almost caved in a moment of fear and packed some old proposals just in case. What would I do with my time if I didn’t have editor appointments? What would I say when people asked about my writing? But I’m happy to say that I stuck with the plan to make this conference…

Read More

Consumed?

, by

Happy New Year from Jeanette. Yes, it has been awhile since you heard from me. A lot happened at once and some things got set aside. Today I started to wonder though, if commitments like blogging got neglected because I was overwhelmed by circumstances that were far more important, or because I let them consume me. Maybe it was a little of both. Sometimes it’s hard to tell isn’t it?

Read More

More than just Boring Assigned Reading

, by

  Happy Monday from Jeanette! Last week I finished and sent the final section of a three-part review of the classic novel Les Miserable. Not only did this fun writing assignment allow me to revisit why I enjoyed the book so much but it also reminded me of the many ways that a writer can benefit from reading the classics.

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

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

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