Call of the Creator: Fantasy Writing from a Christian Worldview

It is with great pleasure I take this moment to reveal to you the current object of my admiration. If I could play an antiphonal fanfare for double brass quintet as an introductory piece of music, I would. Anyway, I have been waiting for weeks now to reveal to you the absolutely phenomenal cover art that will grace the front (and back) of my print version, volume I, of The Windrider Saga . So without further ado... I want to thank the staggeringly talented  Christina Hess for her inspired painting, and the always accommodating and gifted Jon Mills for his classic text layout. I am richly blessed to work with such gracious and artistic people. And because you dropped by, I will also include an image of the full cover that will wrap the book. After all, the way Christina designed it to continue Majestrin's wing onto the back cover is way too cool to skip. So keep an eye out! February 29th, the print compilation goes live. It will be available from Amazon and Barnes and ...

As I read about people submitting their books for consideration for awards like the Nebula or the ACFW's Carol, I have come to realize something. I don't take myself very seriously as a writer. This is clearly going to be a stumbling block for me, because being a new author is almost as much about self-promotion as it is about writing, or so it seems. When your reach is in its developing stages, like mine is, you have to constantly remain on the lookout for new connections you can make. That becomes incredibly hard when you look at your work and question whether anyone would actually like it. Now, there are people out there who are probably stamping their foot at me and saying "Don't be a ninny! You have two novellas out there and a novel under contract. Doesn't that tell you at least SOMETHING?" The trouble is, I've been very good at ignoring real evidence for a very long time. For example, as a child, I lived life cringing in fear, fear that stem...

Artists. That may seem like weird advice coming from me, the writer, animator, illustrator, choir member, ex-trombonist. But honestly. my husband and I talk about this every day. He teaches theater (among other things) and his personal dictum has always been to avoid encouraging young thespians to aspire after acting as a profession. We firmly believe, if there is anything else you can do-- anything --you should choose that. There's a reason the cliche "starving artist" exists. The performing, visual, and literary arts live in the realm of feast or famine, and sadly, the famine is far more widespread than the feast. Now, please understand me that I'm not saying this to rant or be negative or whatever other un-plasticChristian thing I shouldn't do. The core of what I'm saying here is that every person should pursue what they are passionate about, and if you aren't passionate enough about the arts to take it on the chin emotionally a lot of the time, t...

Hey blog fans! Just wanted to let you know that today is my inaugural post over at the newly-established The Cheesecake Thickens . Like their namesake, posts here will pack a whole lot of richness into just a small slice (say, a 500 word or less slice, typically.) Keven Newsome, Diane Graham, Kat Heckenbach, PA Baines and I would be very grateful if you'd give us a gander. Posts will come Monday-Wednesday-Friday, so hopefully that schedule will hit the sweet spot between often enough and manageable. Hope to see you there!

In this age of new authors struggling to rise above all the white noise out there and find a loyal readership, it only makes sense to band together with like-minded folks to increase one's volume. After all, if I'm in a crowd of people shouting "Read my book-blog-serial-whatever," won't a half dozen people saying "Read THIS!" together rise above the other single voices? And so, let me introduce you to the new chorus of sorts in my life, The Cheesecake Thickens . The masterminds behind my previous blogging home, The New Authors Fellowship, have created a little place for those of us who have "graduated" NAF to continue blogging together. When I say "graduated," that means having gotten published. NAF was an awesome factor in helping those of us who blog there to gain industry visibility, and I'm convinced the unparalleled matriculation of its members into the world of the published is no coincidence. So now that our vision no...

You hear it every day--people lamenting the fact that their little local bookstore has closed its doors. Between the economy in general and the business climate in the world of publishing and book retailing, it's no wonder the smaller chains have collapsed. Who is going to go to a store where the prices are higher and the selection is more limited when they can order on-line or go to a huge retailer and have a book either immediately or delivered to their porch in a couple days? The fact is, your average reader isn't thinking about how the author is making no money when he buys a book at a steep on-line discount. He's just excited to get a deal on the book he wants. You can imagine how heartening it was to me to stop into the Towne Book Center, a local, Indy bookstore that is thriving despite the pall of deterioration that hangs heavy on so many other independent establishments. Their coffee area was full, both of people and conversation. Their shelves needed facing--wh...