Fascinating Friday Feature – Did You Know?

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by Linore Rose Burkard When I studied English Literature at the City University of New York, the professors never included writings by famous British authors that paid homage to Christmas or Christ. Authors like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. (Even Wordsworth, you ask? Yes, though not overtly.1)  When researching my book, Regency House Christmas: A Remarkably Regency Yuletide,2 I was pleasantly surprised to find material from these writers of my favorite historical era that revealed a faith my college professors avoided.   I included brief snippets from Coleridge’s “A Christmas Carol,” Wordsworth’s “The River…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – Learn, Persist and Have Faith

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by Dave Pratt Over the past few weeks, the first book in my Christian Suspense series, The Home Team, received numerous positive book reviews. That experience has left me both pleased and humbled and caused me to reflect on how someone like me, with several well-reviewed novels in print, who started the journey as a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the Army, braced by a senior officer in a hallway who growled, “Pratt, you can’t speak and you can’t write. Fix it, or you’ll fail.” More than a little shook by the experience, I signed up for the first correspondence…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – One Fruit of the Spirit

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by Ava Pennington Did you know there is only one fruit of the Spirit? Have you ever wondered why you didn’t have more of the nine fruits of the Spirit the apostle Paul listed in Galatians 5:22-23? That list includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But what if I told you there is only one fruit of the Spirit? That’s right, just one, not nine! God describes several of His attributes as fruit that He develops in us. They are not separate fruits (plural). Rather, each one is a display or facet of the fruit…

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Book Review: Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime by Julie & David Lavender

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Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime by Julie & David Lavender Genre: Children’s literature Description of Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime: “Christmas is more than just presents under the tree, candy canes, and mistletoe. It’s a special time to discover and celebrate what Christmas really means – the promise of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime delivers a joyful collection of 25 stories that help you connect with what this season is truly about while counting down the days until Jesus’ birthday. Cozy up to God’s messages of joy, peace, and love with the following: true biblical retellings, thoughtful…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – A Fascinating Writing Journey

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by Diana Leagh Matthews My writing journey has definitely been just that … a journey. I never intended to become an author. One night in 2003, I argued with a family member and thought about just leaving everything behind. As I calmed down, a book idea popped into my head. I got up around 3:00 a.m. and typed up a four-page summary. The next day, I began writing and wondered if I could actually write a book. I heard a voice whisper in my soul, “You don’t know if you don’t try.” I didn’t tell anyone about writing a book…

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Transforming Personal Stories into Powerful Insights

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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…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – Standing in My Settings

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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…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – The Hidden Stories Behind the Writing Journey

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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…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – Not What I Expected

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by Linda Wood Rondeau When God first called me to write, He gave me Ephesians 3:20 as a promise: “Now tohim who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his powerthat is at work within us.” (NIV) I filled with excitement. “Yeah! I can imagine a whole lot, Lord.” I dreamed of moviesadapted from my novels. I imagined my books flying off the shelves in bookstores. I visualizedmy name and books on bestseller lists. None, of course, has happened as of this writing. Not what God promised. I heard when I wanted to…

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Fascinating Friday Feature with Karin Beery – Most Valuable Lesson Learned Through Writing

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Writing a novel is easy. Writing a good novel that people enjoy and want to share with others is anything but. Based on TV shows and other novels, however, you’d never know that. Fictional novelist Richard Castle somehow managed to write best-selling novels without actually doing much writing. I can’t tell you how many novels I’ve read where a character’s debut novels sell millions, making them instant celebrities without any training or experience. But those authors know better—it’s never that fast or easy. Even though I know fiction isn’t reality, that didn’t stop me from imagining my first manuscript was…

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