Ah, June. The start of what I hope is a beautiful and blessed summer for all of us. I also like to think of summer as prime reading season. Actually, I love reading all year long, but there’s something about being poolside with a book and escaping the demands of real life that is extra […]
Heading Back to Rainbow Falls
It is 5:30 in the morning as I type this, and I’d honestly much rather be asleep. Sleep hasn’t been my friend lately, though, with many a way-too-early-for-humankind morning to prove it. I could be grumpy. After all, I’ve already been up for over an hour, and my alarm won’t go off for another 50 […]
Tied up with a Bow…plus #giveaway
At first, I thought my leaning toward writing “double” romances—stories where two couples both find their happy endings in one books—was purely based on math. In 2014, I began the first draft of Love at Sunset Lake. My goal for the manuscript, based on traditionally published novels, was 80,000 words. That seemed like a lot. […]
Creativity on Demand
By: Staci Stallings Creativity is an odd animal. It has to be constantly fed, but there is no routine to its needed diet. You cannot coddle it nor coax it. It will come out and play when it’s ready and not a second before that. Forcing it to do anything will result in it immediately […]
Secrets and the Writing Journey
The tasks in a writer’s life are akin to the ebb and flow of waves that lap along the shoreline. No matter how many are checked off the list, there’s always another heading in. Sometimes, like a boat caught in those waves, a writer can become overwhelmed. A few years ago I was tackling a […]
If music be the food of love?
Okay, I promise those of you who know the quote, I’m not going to misquote Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night! When Duke Orsino says If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die, he wants so much music played he gets sick of […]
Creating Character: How Acting Helps My Writing by Deb Kastner
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to act at a local theater in its production of Jekyll and Hyde, the ultimate good vs evil with outstanding choral musical score that never fails to give me goosebumps. It’s been ten years since I’ve treaded the boards and it’s been great fun and a wonderful stress reliever for […]
Technology in Church (And how to have some fun when writing church scenes)
How many of you still carry a “real” Bible with you when you go to church? I’m amazed over how fewer and fewer people are bringing an actual Bible with them to Sunday services. I’m one of them! Why? Well, because the Bible app or a digital Bible isn’t near as heavy as the real […]
Confused Yet? …plus #Giveaway
Confused yet? Because, if not, I can remedy the situation! Once upon a time, I wrote a series I called the Farm Fresh Romance series. It contains six novels, all set on one farm in northern Idaho. There were a couple of sets of siblings in the mix, but the focus was on friendships on […]
Writing on Hard Topics + Giveaway
I write about things that are hard to read, and they’re not for everyone. With my most recent WIP (work in progress), I went in search of beta readers to check for accuracy. I wanted them to read it to make sure I represented the situation well and didn’t add too much information so as […]