To drink or not to drink…that is my question for you in the context of characters making beverage choices in contemporary Christian romance (CCR) books. When I first started writing Christian romance, the Christian publishers had detailed lists of acceptable and unacceptable content in the fiction books they published. The consumption of alcohol (liquor) was […]
To Preorder or Not to Preorder?
Can I confess something to you? After writing over 300 nonfiction children’s books to deadline, I kinda don’t really like deadlines anymore. Don’t get me wrong—I see their usefulness and even their necessity. But that doesn’t mean I have to like them. In fact, since I’ve stopped writing nonfiction and started indie publishing my fiction, […]
Time to “Ketchup” & #Giveaway
A big howdy to y’all from Texas! (Did that feel forced? I think that felt forced… It may take this Midwestern gal a while to get used to speaking like a Southerner.) But we did make the move from Wisconsin to Texas two weeks ago and are getting settled into our new home. In fact, […]
Busy as a Bee by Deb Kastner
How has your summer been going? We here at the Kastner household have been insanely busy dealing with, among other things, health issues (both Joe and I are looking at various surgeries), family issues (my youngest daughter is taking over my granddaughter’s guardianship, so Joe and I now babysit both our grands five days a […]
Would You Rather…Inspy Romance Style
One of my youngest daughter’s favorite games is “Would you rather?” You know, the game where you’re asked a question with two equally good (or equally bad!) choices and you have to pick one. So I thought we could play “Would you rather…Inspy Romance style” today! Remember, you can only choose one option for each […]
Build-a-Hero + #Giveaway
Have you ever been to a Build-a-Bear store? You know, where a kid (or adult, I suppose!) gets to pick out a bear body and then take it to be stuffed and choose a heart for it and pick out a song for it to play and even choose a scent for it. When my […]
Your Opinion: What Makes a Good Newsletter
Hi Everyone! Maybe it’s my upcoming move to Missouri, a subconscious effort to focus on something other than packing, or the fact that I’ve just finished a very rough draft of the last book in my Abundance series, but I’ve thinking about what I should keep the same in my life and what I should […]
The Elephant in the Room & a #Giveaway
When I was a kid, we used to visit John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, Nevada. I don’t gamble, and I didn’t grow up with gamblers, but I did grow up right next door to Reno, Nevada and its plethora of casinos. We used to meet my grandparents for dinner at one of the Nugget’s many […]
Summer Reading Survey & Giveaway
Ah, summer. As a kid, one of my favorite things about summer was the endless hours of reading time it brought. In my bed, on the couch, outside under the tree . . . it didn’t matter where. As long as I had a book in my hands, I was happy. This summer, I’ve been […]
Pandemic Romance Plots
As I type this, things are slowly opening up in Ohio. I went to the post office yesterday to mail a book and discovered a new normal. Everyone in line practiced social distancing. Everyone in the customer line wore masks. A sheet of plexiglass hung from the ceiling, creating a barrier between the customer and […]