When Christians Lose Faith–Star Rising #giveaway Recently, some high profile people in the Christian world —musicians, authors, pastors—- have renounced their faith. Call me weird, but in my latest novel, Star Rising, I wanted to delve into why a Christian might lose their faith. I named my hero Paul, because, in a way, I pictured […]
A Day to Remember
Yesterday… It started with promise, my grandsons excited about the prospect of finally getting their day at the beach, my month-old granddaughter caring less about anything except having a clean diaper and a full tummy. The day did not disappoint. It almost did at times. And it threw us some curve balls. But all in […]
Deck the Shelves Playlist + #Giveaway
Tis the season to listen to holiday music…or is it? Whenever I start writing a new story, I always build a playlist first. I love music and how it fuels my creativity. Plus, I like to imagine my books becoming movies one day and they’ll totally need a score and soundtrack, right? (Can you tell […]
The Psychology of Getting to Know Characters
by: Staci Stallings So, my blog this month stems from a couple of questions I got from my Facebook group, Staci’s FAN-tastic Readers, The first comes from Christina Jay: “Maybe not much of a question, and it’s something you’ve talked about a bit here but you have really dug deep into psychology with the Imagination […]
Sharing local holiday traditions in fiction + giveaway
Culture is fascinating, isn’t it? I think a big part of what I love about reading is how we can travel anywhere in the world just by picking up a book. And at each stop in our travels, we learn something new and interesting about the culture, the people, or traditions of a place. I […]
Grateful and Blessed
As the US Thanksgiving nears I am taking time to reflect on all I have to be grateful about. I won’t post my list here, but suffice it to say, though life isn’t perfect, I have plenty to be grateful for. Historically, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. In recent years it’s become a […]
Small Ways To Make Christmas Special
I can’t believe next week is Thanksgiving! Then right on its heels is Christmas. Last year, I wrote a Madison Creek Township Christmas novella, but I decided not to publish it until this year. (At the time, I didn’t realize I’d have two other Christmas stories also coming out (as part of collections with other […]
The Truth about Lamp Lighting
by: Staci Stallings The Bible says that God’s Word is a lamp at my feet. My dad always said that God put the lamp at our feet and not on our head. That means we’re supposed to focus on the next step, not how we’re getting all the way down the tunnel. I’ve thought about […]
Small Town Girl
Tomorrow marks the four-year anniversary of our family’s move to Waukesha, Wisconsin, for my husband to take a position as a pastor here. With a population of 72,000, this is the biggest city we’ve ever lived in by far. And it’s part of the Greater Milwaukee area, which has a population of over 1.5 million. […]
Seaside Chapel Music (with #Giveaway)
Do you like music? Listen to it a lot? What kind of music do you like to listen to? “Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints” (Psalm 149:1, KJV). I so enjoy church hymns, especially when accompanied by a full live orchestra. I’ve […]