“If you’re going to do something, then do it right.” Those words, spoken by my father, came to me the winter of my thirteenth year as I delivered newspapers along my route on the streets of Elmwood Park, a suburb of Chicago. It was the winter of 1976 and we were in the clutch of […]
Hey! What about Thanksgiving?!
Here in the US, it seems like the last wisps of smoke from the fireworks have barely begun to fade from the July sky when all the craft and hobby stores begin rolling out the fall and Christmas stuff. It never fails, immediately people begin lamenting it coming “earlier every year” and grousing about seeing […]
Christmas Movies Based on Books # Giveaway
I’m all about Christmas. Yes, I know Thanksgiving is first and I love that day as well. But Christmas forces the entire world to think of Jesus. Whether they want to or not. I have three trees in my house, and yes, they’re already up. One in the living room with lots of Christian ornaments […]
Planning a Wedding
One of the things I find most fun when writing Christian romance is planning a beautiful wedding at the end of a book. Of the five books out so far in my Abundance series, three of them end in weddings, including the most recent books I’ve written, Love and Roses and Love, Lies, and Homemade […]
The Value of Christian Romance + #Giveaway
I recently saw an article shared on Facebook that got me thinking about the value of Christian romance. More specifically, is there any value in reading books about fictional Christian characters who fall in love? I would say, yes, definitely, and for sure! Here are 3 reasons why I believe there’s value in reading (and […]
My Second Chance at Romance
There was a time when I quit writing romance. Ten years ago, I sold my debut novel, Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho, then my husband left me. Being that I’d sold the book on proposal alone, I had to write a love story as my own marriage fell apart. I didn’t believe in […]
A Letter to Yourself by Merrillee Whren
Recently I attended a writing workshop. The speaker talked about writing short stories for a women’s magazine. I’ve never done anything like that probably because I tend to be long-winded and can’t tell a story in 800 words. However, I listened with interest. Was it something I could do? I decided I should give it […]
ACFW Conference, Fangirling, & the Christy Awards #giveaway
ACFW Conference, Fangirling, & the Christy Awards #giveaway! Authors are readers and fans too! Most authors started as avid readers, so we have our author heroes. In the past, I was thrilled to meet some of my favorites, Francine Rivers, Charles Martin, Terri Blackstock and Randy Alcorn. Last month at the ACFW conference in […]
Putting Real Life On Hold # Giveaway
I’m in the throes of a deadline again. When I turned in the last book, I took a month off. I wrote for a month. Then my editor sent my revisions on the book I just turned in. Once I finished revisions, I had to supply cover details and artwork. I finished that just in […]
Remembering Your First Love…plus #giveaway
Do you remember the first time you fell in love… with a fictional hero? Back in the 1970s, when I was about fourteen and growing up in the Missouri Ozarks, a family friend named Bessie gave me a stack of Grace Livingston Hill books that she said she thought I’d enjoy. An avid reader, I […]