. . . And a Chat about Discouragement Questions. Were you born with them the same way I was? Why does such and such happen? Why is life seemingly so much tougher for me than for ______ ? Why is life so hard? Recently I grappled with more questions when my publisher’s publicist e-mailed me. Due to circumstances beyond his control, the release of The Tenth Plague has been moved from the end of this September to January 15, 2013. Pardon Me While I Vent I could be very discouraged by this news. Why? The process of getting this second novel to any semblance of the printed page for readers has been one of the most frustrating and time-consuming trials in recent memory. I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, I’ve faced seemingly endless delays, constant rejection, false hopes, discouragement, lack of affirmation, the death of…
Read moreSearching for Shirley MacLaine
In January 1991, I began a newspaper internship at the Greenville Piedmont (now defunct) in Greenville, South Carolina. It was my senior year in college, and I was graduating in May with a BA degree in print journalism. One of the more unusual “adventures” (misadventures might be a better word) occurred the day the managing editor turned to me with an unusual assignment. “I’d like you to drive over to the Greenville Hilton and see if you can track down Shirley MacLaine. She’s doing a show in town, and I heard she’s staying there.” No joke. Now, many of us think of Shirley as a New Age guru, but actually she’s a pretty talented woman. (And no, this is no endorsement of her beliefs or anything else she represents.) I just sort of stared at him. I was a twenty-year-old journalism nobody who wrote feature stories about city volunteers and…
Read moreRandy Alcorn: Message in Christian Fiction
I was pleased to stumble across an article by Randy Alcorn in World Magazine a few weeks ago. It dovetails perfectly with my article about why I decided to marry the word meaningful with the word suspense for my author’s tagline. In summary, the thrust of my article was about why I believe message is important in Christian fiction. I listed several reasons why I strongly believe this way, based on my understanding of Scripture. Many of my fans agree with me. At least one reader took me to task and told me to “lighten up”—that no, not every Christian novel needs to be message driven. Well, no, that’s not what I said. What did I say? Does that mean Christian writers can never write only a fun, entertaining story once in a while? No. But if all we write is entertainment, what eternal value is there? So what does Randy…
Read moreBook Giveaway: Fatal Illusions
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