Category: News

Audiobooks coming!

Good news! Thanks to a friend who works at a local Christian broadcasting station, my novels will available next year in audio format! We have already recorded most of The Idol, and after that we’ll start on The Flame and The Box.

This is all new territory for me, and I am incredibly grateful to God for Lisa Dorr and her state of the art recording studio. She has done multiple audiobooks for others and knows the ropes. It is like having a guide through a wilderness! So keep an eye open for these recordings as they become available on Amazon, Audible and Spotify!

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Christian Writers’ Conference

This post is for my writing friends. Just in case any of you have never been to a Christian Writers conference, Marlene Bagnull is offering her annual Write His Answer writers conference June 17-20. The entire conference will be online and the price is super economical. I can compare it with another conference being held later this year where my costs for a three day experience (including flights, registration, hotel, meals, etc.) would have been over $1500! I decided not to attend that one. Marlene’s conference, which has a long track record of excellence, is one of the chief factors in my having had nine books published. She has been a wonderful mentor and encourager of so many new writers.

Check it out at: conference.writehisanswer.com. Registration just opened 4/15. You’ll have opportunity to meet with 70 authors and editors and publishers plus attend your choice of 95 different workshops and plenary sessions! Definitely a bargain! Besides, yours truly will be leading one of those workshops!

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New publication appearing this month!

Write and Live His Answer NOW: Encouragement to Impact our Culture will be released for publication this month! It is authored by my longtime writing friend, Marlene Bagnull, and it includes “Open Door Policy,” a section written by me.

Copies can be pre-ordered at a discount through the Write His Answer bookstore (https://writehisanswer.com/viewproduct/550).

“Marlene Bagnull has long been an encourager for Christian writers. In Write and Live His Answer NOW–Encouragement to Impact Our Culture, Marlene and her 25 plus contributors call us all to an even greater commitment to affect change through our keyboards and the lives we live. Time is short and there’s much all Christians can do to halt and even reverse the dangers of a godless age.” Nick Harrison, Writing and Coach, WordServe Literary

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Conference Chemistry

The Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference is coming up, August 8-10! These annual conferences are a special time for me each year because gathering with other writers energizes my spirit!

Sure there is plenty of work to do volunteering to help with set-up, teaching several workshops, attending other seminars, and critiquing manuscripts for those attending the conference, but this annual conference also offers time to renew friendships with old friends and hear speakers that motivate me to press on in my ministry for the Lord.

My husband is not a writer, so the conference that excites him is the bi-annual Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences. Not my cup of tea, but this gathering combines Gene’s two passions in life: mathematics and theology. He leaves home thirsty and returns refreshed after a week of connecting with fellow geeks.

What group excites you and renews your passion for service in God’s kingdom? As it says in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

PS: If you are a writer, come join us at the Philly conference! You’ll find more details at
https://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com.

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A final “Moving Experience”

The deed is done! We are officially ensconced in our new home!

After months of sorting-tossing-donating, packing, repairing, and cleaning, we are at last able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. But that small word “our” encompasses far more than the labor of just my husband and myself. So many people helped us along the journey.

Our daughter posted items for sale on Craigslist. My brother and friends helped us set up and tear down for our yard sale. A team of friends, including our son, loaded the van and emptied it at the new location. My daughter-in-law provided breakfast for the crew of volunteers, another friend supplied water and fresh watermelon, before yet another friend from church brought lunch for the entire team.

Nor did it end with the actual move. A dear friend and her husband invited us for lunch the next day so I would not have to prepare a meal when my kitchen was still in boxes. Several days later, still another friend arrived to unpack and organize closets. And the residential staff from the retirement community have been busy hanging pictures and making small repairs in the new place. The entire process has been amazing.

And humbling. After a lifetime of giving, I am not used to being the recipient of so much kindness. For example, on the day of the move, my prayer partner gathered all our dirty sheets and towels, washed them and returned them to us so that we could start our first night in the new home with all fresh linens. It is humbling to have someone else do your laundry.

We are amazed. We are humbled. We are grateful.

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Another Moving Experience…

Our focus of these past three months has been on moving to our new home. It is incredible how much of one’s energy (physical, emotional and mental) such a transfer requires. We are still mid-process, and even after months of work we continue to be startled by the things that appear from the hidden recesses of closets.

For example, we posted on Craigslist a photo of a large Claymore sword that we hoped to sell. The weapon is heavy and looks lethal. Then I remember we once had another sword in the downstairs closet. Perhaps we could sell that as well? I send my patient husband down to search for it. A few minutes later, Gene comes up carrying an old Mexican machete. “Is this it?”

“No,” I reply. “The sword should be a decorative presentation piece, with a scabbard.”

He descends again and returns with a World War II bayonet. “How about this?”

“Where on earth did that come from?”

As it turns out, his father brought the bayonet home as a souvenir after fighting in Italy. I place it on the dining table with the other weapons. “I think there is a hunting knife around too.” In moments I produce a hand carved Finnish bear hunting knife, with its oak scabbard. Our table is beginning to look like an arsenal. We are combat ready!

Because we don’t expect that we’ll need these weapons at our retirement setting, we post all of them for sale and delight the new owner several days later.

No, I still have not found the presentation sword that started this search. I suspect it is chuckling as it hides in yet another dark cranny of our home.

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Northeast Adoption & Child Welfare Summit

I don’t usually advertise outside events but coming up next month Bethany Christian Services, where I serve as staff chaplain, is hosting a major event for adoptive and foster care families.  There are a multitude of workshops to help families and train caseworkers on how to respond more effectively to the needs of children who have faced trauma. Would you join us in prayer for this event?

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Updated website! Check it out!

Have you noticed the updated look of my website? I could never have done it without the help of my youngest son and my husband. Together they reorganized and redesigned the entire site. They graciously asked me for my input here and there, just to make me feel like I was part of the process, but anything that works better now is entirely due to their patient efforts.

 

The process reminded me of a talk I’ll be giving on October 11th at the annual Bethany Christian Services staff retreat here in Pennsylvania. The theme this year is “Kaleidoscope: Together we are God’s Masterpiece,” based on Ephesians 2:10. Just as in one of those colorful children’s toys, a myriad of small pieces come together to create a beautiful design, so all the members of our staff work together to create something far more beautiful than the individual pieces.

 

My new website may not yet be a Masterpiece, but it was produced as a kaleidoscope. With the help of savvy family members, the result is far more beautiful than anything I could have ever created on my own. So thanks to John and Gene for all their hard work!

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