Yes, absolutely.  Every time I start a new book, I wonder how I ever thought I could be a writer.  I don’t have the full story settled in my mind.  The characters are what come to me first, and they don’t always tell me where they’re going.  I have a loose outline because the publisher needs to have some idea what the story will be, but they also know that it will change in the course of writing.  (Not all publishers are so understanding.) Writing a book can be frightening.  I’m often walking in a fog bank, unable to see more than a few steps ahead.  Continue Reading

Every person has unique DNA.  We also have unique fingerprints and retinas.  There are billions of us, but each human being is individual, distinctive, an original creation.  That’s true of the way we express ourselves as well. Sit with a group of friends and you will quickly notice that each has their own way of speaking thoughts, emotions, experiences, interests, ideas.  Each observes life from their own singular viewpoint.  Each personality comes through how and what they say. It’s the same with writing.  Each writer has a personal way of using words, Continue Reading

Yes, to the first question.  Several full manuscripts in answer to the second. One manuscript comes to mind, one I wrote in the early days of my writing career.  I had been a juror on a rape case.  The evidence was all there, but one person couldn’t declare the defendant guilty because he looked like “such a nice young man”.  He walked.  I (along with ten others) was angry, frustrated and depressed.  What did I do?  I unleashed my emotions by creating four victims betrayed by the judicial system who find a way to stop a serial rapist. An edge-of-your-seat Continue Reading

I plotted my stories when I was writing historical romances in the general market.  I knew where I was going long before I got there.  But these stories were simple – formulaic.  Boy meets girl.  Boy and girl are driving apart.  Boy and girl get back together again.  At the time, the focus was the sexual tension between the two people and how they would eventually end up in a life-long-love relationship. When I became a Christian, that kind of lock-step writing didn’t work.  The first book I wrote as a Christian was Redeeming Love, a novel based on Continue Reading

Christmas is always a high for me.  It’s a time of getting the family together, hearing from far-away friends, feasting.  Then come the quiet days of putting away decorations, CDs, movies, cards, nativities and lights.  Jesus continues to be celebrated in our house. But a new year is a day away. I’ve written before about my Possibilities lists. It’s time to start planning new ones. Interesting how simply writing things down can help bring things to fruition.  Once the lists are made, I put away the spiral notebook for another year.  Then, on the next New Year’s Eve, Continue Reading

by guest blogger Jacqueline Tisthammer There are many beautiful traditions to love at Christmastime: nights alight with dazzling displays, neighbors sharing family favorite treats, music evoking decades gone by, candlelit churches keeping vigil in song, gifts that bring delight and joy.  But every once in a while I wonder… why is it that I love Christmastime so much? Is it the pumpkin spice lattes and repetitive playlists? Are we really that enamored of turkey that never gets done cooking at the right time or kids hyped up on sugar? I still get all the feels when I hear Continue Reading

I went to the library for information and found out about The Writers’ Market, a book put out each year with information on agents and publishers.  I selected agents I thought fit what I was writing and sent a query letter. The first agent agreed to work with me. However, he wanted upfront money“to make the manuscript salable”.  Fortunately,I didn’t have the money “required” and also didn’t like the sound of “the deal”.  I found another agent in the book, and unfortunately, signed with him. He sold my first novel and co-mingled the funds. I ended up having to hire legal assistance to end that Continue Reading

When did you know you wanted to be a writer? I knew I was going to be a writer from early childhood.  I didn’t know what I would write because I didn’t enjoy reading.  In fact, I was a very poor reader. It wasn’t for lack of opportunity.  My mother took me and my brother to the library every week to pick out books.  My brother turned into a voracious reader (still is).  I just didn’t catch the reading bug until much later (after I married into the Rivers family). We lived on “chicken alley”, two miles out of town.  Both of my parents worked. I came home to an empty house, though my Continue Reading

We’re on the freeway, trying to get somewhere on time, and brake lights are flashing up ahead. What is it about people who slow down and even stop to see someone else’s misfortune or tragedy?  I confess I’ve slowed down and looked, too.  Then wished I hadn’t.  Is it human nature to gawk?  Is there some kind of evil at work here, a tendency to be fascinated when images come of disaster? Car chases and crashes are a big thing in the movies. Is that because movie-makers know how many people love to watch mayhem – at least, the unreal kind they can see safely and only vicariously Continue Reading

Have you ever heard of ASMR?  I hadn’t until a cab driver turned on a radio talk show.  It was a long ride and Rick and I got to hear quite a bit of the program. Apparently, many people are becoming addicted to an “autonomy sensory meridian response” they get by making and/or viewing YouTube videos. The sounds and visuals can bring on calming, pleasurable feelings often accompanied by a tingling sensation. Tingles?  Do they mean the kind of sensations people feel when physically attracted?  Can you have the same tingle anytime, anywhere with a thumb stroke and mundane YouTube video?  Or do Continue Reading