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Life-Transforming Fiction

Life-Transforming Fiction

A Life-Giving Fiction

Last year, my son, David Jr. left for his fourth tour of Iraq (Army). On his previous deployments, he had more than a few close calls and lost some very special friends who were not so fortunate. We knew very well that even though we prayed hard and often for his safety, God might call him home on those desert sands so far away.

Before he left, we set a time to discuss the important details that needed attending to: financial issues, powers of attorney, and, yes, even the provisions of his will. ...

Teen Column

Interview of Donita K. Paul

Teens love fantasy. They want to escape into fantastic worlds and let their imaginations run wild. I’ve found the most awesome fantasy writer around, and the best part is she writes Christian fiction. I’ve read every book in the Dragon Keeper Chronicles series more than once, and I rarely read a book twice. Who needs Harry Potter when there is an amazing fantasy author like Donita K. Paul who writes fiction with a powerful message?

Fiction Ramblings

Shelf In My Head

As a self-confessed bibliophile, I have a nagging problem: shelf space. As in there’s never enough. I accumulate books everywhere I go. I order them online, I stop at just about every bookstore I pass, I get reviewer copies, and let’s not even talk about the number of books I buy my kids.

In the past, every time I noticed books piled all over the house and my full bookshelves, I just built a new bookcase.

Rachel's Rubies

Discover The Onyx Stone

The onyx stone is a black-and-white banded variety of quartz, called “zebra agate.” A completely black stone is called, you guessed it, “black agate.”

Onyx has been used through the centuries for art and pottery, as well as jewelry and ornamental building material.

But how can the contrasts of this lovely stone—black swirled against white—help us understand fiction?

Mad Marketing Genius

Blog Marketing

If you do not like to blog, then don’t read this article. I’m serious—and don’t feel bad about it, either. Blogging is not for everyone, no matter what people say. Don’t feel you have to blog because someone tells you to, or because everyone else is doing it.

But if you do like blogging (or if you’re like me and just can’t stop talking and writing), then you can very easily use your blogging for marketing. Don’t be intimidated by words like html and SEO and Technorati.

Fiction International

Globetrotting For Writers

New Zealanders are pre-programmed to travel. Most of us are descended from immigrants only one or two generations back. And being down there in isolation at the end of the world, we like to do overseas experience, "the big O.E." as a part of our career and education. My story isn't quite typical, because most people go home after a year or two. Me, I'm an incurable globetrotter in my eighth year abroad.