In 2008, I began submitting the manuscript to contests. I entered the Zondervan First Novel Contest, the Amazon Writing Contest, the Genesis Contest (a couple of times) and a few smaller contests, and never received one word of encouragement. However, my friend Susanne Lakin won the Zondervan First Novel Contest at Mount Hermon in 2009 for her novel Someone to Blame, receiving a publishing contract as first prize. Soon after that, she contracted for three of her fantasy books and was suddenly zooming on her way to publication. Although she is by far the most creative people I've ever known, much more talented than I, her success encouraged me and kept me entering contests, submitting queries, and not quitting when the rejections came.<< MORE >>

In spring of 2006 I attended my first writers conference at Mount Hermon in the beautiful mountains outside San Jose, California. There, I was introduced to the craft of writing. In the workshops, I discovered formulas and structure for writing mysteries and for fiction in general about which I previously knew absolutely nothing. I submitted the first three chapters of Cornerstone House---as it was then called---for critique. The marvelous and beautiful author Brandilyn Collins wrote a full page of suggestions "so that your story will emerge--right now it's weighted beneath too many words." << MORE >>

After six years of waiting and praying and waiting and wishing and waiting and procrastinating and waiting and attending workshops and waiting and rewriting, my first book, Payne & Misery, is about to be published in tangible paper and ink. It will get an ISBN number and go on sale at Amazon.com. I lay awake at night imagining what the cover will look like and what the book will feel like in my hands. I pretend I've just found my book on a shelf at the bookstore and wonder what my emotions will be. Today as I pondered this, I thought perhaps during my final waiting time---since the book will be out by the end of summer or early fall---I should document my process, just in case someday someone I know feels discouraged and needs a little pep talk about the long journey to publication. << MORE >>

I neglected my rose garden this winter. I didn't mean to, but I used the rains and life's busyness as an excuse and never got around to pruning. The bushes didn't complain. They never called me or drew attention to themselves as I passed by. It never occurred to me that something was wrong. With their normal hardiness, the plants completed their usual dormant period and headed into spring. Long twisted tendrils mixed with old dead growth. Wild shapes replaced cultivated. Old stalks widened and put out large sharp thorns. Still, I didn't notice. << MORE >>

I have a confession to make. I hate the phone. I am simply not a phone person. I’m shy and not good at chit-chat. I rarely remember to take my cell phone with me, to charge it, or even turn it on. I don’t call my own children regularly. But I’m convinced that God delights in stretching us out of our comfort zones. So, of course, when I signed up for Bible Study Fellowship five years ago, they gave me the job of phoning the volunteers who were needed every week to help out the children's leaders. << MORE >>

Six years ago, Bob and I were locked in disagreement about moving away from Grass Valley. He wanted to move and I didn’t. I was positive he was wrong and I had a lock on God’s will for our family. Certainly God had led us there and we should stay. In my arrogance, I even requested that my friends at church pray for him.<< MORE >>

John 5:1-9 This snippet from Jesus' earthly ministry is so full of life-lessons that with each reading I see things I never saw before. Today I focus on the odd question Jesus asked the paralyzed man. "Do you want to get well?" The answer seems obvious at first. Of course he wants to be well. Everyone wants to be well. But Jesus knows our inner thoughts, so it can't be that He asked this man a silly question like that. It must be that the answer to Jesus' question could be yes or no and the man has to decide which. << MORE >>

During my morning prayer time one Thanksgiving, instead of my usual litany of requests I thanked God for His generosity during the previous year, naming each blessing as I thought of it. << MORE >>

Want to be inspired and encouraged to live out your faith in the world you inhabit between Sundays? Meet Rod Cook--successful contractor, husband, father, relatively new Christian, recovering addict/alcoholic. God is using his skills and abilities, including his brokenness, to reach souls for eternity. When that still small voice called him, Rod said , "Yes." << MORE >>

With temperatures still in the 90s, most Calavares County residents aren't dragging sweaters out of storage or skipping out for walks in the crisp cool air. Such high temperatures will not coax color changes in the trees nor make leaves fall from branches. But according to the calendar, fall 2009 has arrived and one of these days we'll feel it in the air. Let's take a moment to ponder this incredible season. << MORE >>