What’s the difference between how a reader and a writer experience a story? This is an important question for me as a writer, because if I can understand the reader experience and what they enjoy about my stories, I can keep delivering it! I thought readers might also be curious about the how writers experience […]
About those Quirky Characters #FreeBook
Have you ever joined a new Bible Study or some other gathering when you’re told there’s about to be an ice breaker? I hear all you introverts groaning out there! 😅 Truthfully, I’ve felt the same way, and yet … those little games can help a room full of strangers start talking, and even become […]
Funniest Editing Fails
One of my biggest nightmares as an author is…typos. 😟 Grammaticos. 😨 Formatting errors. 😱 In order for a story to shine, I’m a firm believer that the mechanics need to be strong. I reread my manuscripts SO MANY TIMES before they’re finalized. However, despite my best efforts, little things almost always slip through. A […]
Working Together
Can I be honest here? I hate group projects. There. I said it. It’s the way I’ve felt all my life. In school, growing up, I dreaded when the teacher would tell us we had to do something with other students. Especially if those other students didn’t pull their weight. I just tend to work […]
Excitement and Fear
Welcome to our Back to School Bash! What a wonderful time of the year. Fun, books, prizes–oh, wait–that’s our blog all year long, isn’t it? But this month we’re extra! Enjoy! I’m sure you’ve heard that as Christians joy and sorrow co-exist in us. The joy brought to us by God, and the sorrow of […]
How to Make the Most of Your Time
When I’m the busiest, I always have the most ideas for a book and the biggest urge to write. And, of course, this is when I have the least amount of time to devote to a WIP or new project. This summer alone, I’ve thought of an idea for a new book series, named the […]
Forgetting the Facts
I’ve written ten books. That’s only a modest achievement compared to many of my fellow authors. Still, it’s enough that I’ve now started to forget many details in my stories. One of my readers once surprised and delighted me by making an online quiz based on the first novel I ever wrote. I did the […]
Gotcha! by Deb Kastner
It can be quite overwhelming when an author is facing a completely blank page at the beginning of a novel. I know who the characters are and have lived with them for awhile in my head. I’ve sketched out at least a modicum of what is going to happen in the story. But here I […]
Are You a Wanderer?
Are you a wanderer? As in, “not all who wander are lost”? I happily admit that I’m one too. I inherited the wandering gene from my mother, and I sometimes wonder if God gave that special gene to creatives so we could all wander around and bring back what we’ve found to share with others. It’s […]
Poll: What book should I write next?
I finished writing all the books currently under contract, and now I get to decide what to do next. I have a few possibilities, and I’d love to hear which ideas most interest you. This is the fun part! Here we go… 1.) Football is My Boyfriend — After a breakup, Payton Wakeland finds herself […]