Gone Writing!

Gone Writing!

by | Mar 28, 2019 | Announcements

It’s that time of year again! The time that I wait for rather anxiously…and the time that I’m in rather desperate need of this year: Writing Retreat Time!
Today I’m en route to Kansas City, where my best friend, the fantabulous Stephanie Morrill, will pick me up from the airport. After dropping off her kids and exchanging cars, LOL, we’ll check in to a lovely little Airbnb and vanish from the world for a few beautiful, story-filled days.

At last year’s writing retreat. Ice cream is an important incentive! We get a bowl when we hit 10K in a day.

There will be brainstorming. There will be laughter. There will be ice cream and Kansas City BBQ and amazing coffee from her parents’ coffee shop.

But most of all, there will be many, many uninterrupted hours of writing.
This year, I need to finish up my next book in the Guideposts series, Secrets of Wayfarers Inn. I’m working on book 20 right now, entitled There’s No Place Like Holmes–a Sherlock-themed mystery, in case you couldn’t tell. ? A book which is due 2 days after I return home, so…yeah. If you think of it, say a prayer that the words come easily and smoothly and I can get this baby done!
There will be no other blogs posting until I’m home again, but if you’re curious about how it’s going, I’ll be posting quick updates to social media!
See you back here next week!
Word of the Week – Ballet and Ball

Word of the Week – Ballet and Ball

by | Mar 25, 2019 | Word of the Week

My daughter has been taking ballet since she was five, and it’s safe to say she is a very enthusiastic fan of the art. ?  A few weeks ago she asked me to look up where the word comes from, so of course, I obliged.
Ballet comes to English from (shocker) French. Though interestingly, the original French word is actually the feminine ballette. It’s been in English since the 1660s, meaning “a theatrical, costumed dance telling a story.” The French word is, in turn, from the Italian balletto, which is a diminutive of ballo, meaning “to dance.” The Italian, of course, come from Latin (ballare) and the Latin in turn from the Greek ballezein, all of the same meaning.
What I don’t think I ever paused to realize is that this is also where ball, as in, “a large dance party,” comes from (duh, right?). Perhaps simply because we pronounce ballet and ball differently, my brain just hadn’t made that connection. But OF COURSE!
Thoughtful About . . . The Word of God

Thoughtful About . . . The Word of God

by | Mar 21, 2019 | Thoughtful Thursdays

What does it mean when we call the Bible the infallible Word of God?
This is something my husband and I have been talking about from different angles lately. Something that will probably get some vehement reactions, LOL. But something I really think bears thinking about.

Here are a few phrases I’ve heard quite a lot:

All we need is the Bible
If it disagrees with the Bible, it’s wrong
The Bible is infallible
The Bible is the ultimate authority
The Bible is the inspired Word of God
The Bible was written by God, penned by man
On the surface, I agree with each and every one of these statements 100%. But I have to admit…the more conversations I hear where these statements are used as arguments, the more I sometimes think–and this is going to sound very strange, so bear with me–sometimes people make an idol of the Bible.
Okay, I know how that sounds. I do. But hear me out.
Before the Bible was written, did God speak to His people?
Yes.
When the Old Testament was codified but before Jesus came, was God still planning His means of salvation?
Yes.

After Jesus had come, but before the New Testament was put to parchment, did His Spirit speak to the Church?

Yes.
When what we today call the Bible was just a collection of letters, various versions and copies floating around, did God guide His church?
Yes.
When we find multiple manuscripts with slight discrepancies, is there still a Truth?
Yes.
Where does all that lie?
With God.
The Bible is an amazing gift that He’s given us. Inspired words, absolutely. But here’s the thing: God existed before the Bible. God was worshiped before the Bible. God provided salvation for us before those books we call the Gospel existed. The Church was built before those letters from Paul were written. People were living, day in and day out, serving Him and trusting Him and knowing they would join Him in Paradise…all before what we call the Bible was a thing.
For three hundred years, there was a New Testament church, yet there was no New Testament.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Our faith, our trust, our worship, our praise, does not lie in the Book. It lies with the Author.


God is SO…MUCH…BIGGER than those 66 books. Right? Just imagine how the Jews felt when Jesus began preaching His life-changing lessons. What He was basically claiming was that God was more than what they understand Him to be from the Law and the Prophets. He was more loving. He was more merciful. He was more concerned with heart than action. He was basically saying that the Old Testament understanding, while correct, wasn’t complete.
We today have more. We have the New Testament as well. And the understanding it gives us is correct…but is it complete? Can everything there is to know about God be summed up in those pages?
I hope you agree with this answer: Of course not! The pages themselves claim as much!
How could the God of gods, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Creator of the entire universe, ever be summed up in full by measly human words, right? We know He’s bigger. We know He’s more. We know that, yes, the Bible is God-inspired…but the Bible isn’t God. People can be Christians without the Bible in their hands, without having read it all. They can have a true, full faith.
Now, the Bible certainly helps! As I said, it’s one of the most amazing gifts He’s given humanity. And I believe that we need to be certain that teachings line up with Scripture, absolutely. Just like the NT needs to harmonize with OT, so do teachings that come after the Bible need to align with it.
But I don’t believe the Bible was even intended to be the sum total of what we read, what we think about, what we rely on, and what we base every decision upon. Why do I think that? Because the very heroes of the Bible didn’t have it! And they still did the things that earned them a place in the ultimate Story. Because they relied on Him. On His living Word.
I love that John calls Jesus the Word–He is the true Word of God, right? Not the books written about Him–the actual Man. Which is so, so important. Because the Bible is static–but He is eternal. The Bible is words, but He is flesh. Even in the Bible itself, He doesn’t promise us more writing to help us and give us the answers. He promises us the Spirit.
A lot of the people of Jesus’ day dismissed Him because they thought they needed nothing more than the Law and the Prophets. I pray that we today don’t dismiss things God is trying to do,  understanding He’s trying to give us because it’s not part of the canonized Bible. We argue with ideas that don’t agree with our understanding of the words He gave to Moses or Paul. We say if it’s not in the Bible, that it’s not worth knowing.
But what if it’s our understanding that’s faulty–incomplete? Just as theirs was in Jesus’ day?
This is what leads to a lot of tension between, for instance, religion and science. Because sometimes those of faith have a particular reading of the Bible that seems to disagree with what scientists have discovered. And sometimes those of science seem to have an axe to grind when it comes to faith.
But the Bible was never meant to be a scientific treaty. The Bible was meant to be a love story between God and man. It’s not about knowledge–the collection of facts. It’s about wisdom–how to apply knowledge to our lives and use it to guide our decisions, our morals, and our beliefs.

Sometimes, what we view to be tension is in fact just incomplete understanding. A few hundred years ago, most Christians could not accept that the sun was the center of the solar system–it disagreed with their fundamental understanding of God’s love for humanity, placing them at the center of His creation. Today, we don’t see this as a problem. Two hundred years ago, many Christians couldn’t accept the idea of “outer space” because it disagreed with their understanding of the “firmament” described in Genesis. Today, we don’t see this as a problem either. Who’s to say how wisdom will grow to accommodate knowledge in the next fifty or hundred years? But too often, we look to the Bible and say, “But it says…”

But here’s the thing: it says what it needs to say to tell the story of God’s love. It uses language that the people who wrote it could understand. It’s still relevant, it’s still True. But there can also still be more to the story. Because no words can express Him and His wonders. He can teach us more, and it does not negate what He said before. It tells us the how of the that He already whispered to us about, that’s all. It expands our vocabulary. But knowing more words to describe the phenomena never changes the basic facts of it, and of Who designed and orchestrated it. Knowing the words to describe the symphony changes nothing about how beautiful it is–it just gives us a means of discussing it.
My Bibles–and I have quite a collection of them, LOL–will always remain some of my most valued possessions, and the books I turn to daily. Something no other book can ever claim, to be sure. But I also love knowing that if those physical books pass away, if every last copy is destroyed, the Word of God will still stand. When it isn’t written on a page, it will still be written on our hearts. It’s more than my feeble understanding. It’s more than a collection of words on a page.
The true Word of God is my Savior, my Lord, my Jesus. I don’t worship the things He said. I worship Him. The Bible is my guide–but it is not my God.

My first book, back again!

My first book, back again!

by | Mar 20, 2019 | Book News, Cover Designs

Twenty-one years ago, I had an idea for a story. Specifically, this idea came to me on Good Friday. The story of a woman there in the crowd at Jesus’ trial. A woman who went to said trial eager to see Barabbas find justice. A woman who instead, collided with mercy, grace, and the eternal power of the blood Jesus shed for us. That day, when I was fifteen, I sat down and wrote a short story which I called “A Stray Drop of Blood.””
Over the next six years, I slowly turned that short story into a book. A long book. I finished writing it during my last few months of college, finishing it up the same week I graduated. The next year, my husband published it as the launching title of WhiteFire Publishing. That was in 2005. Not much happened with that hardback version. We just made (literally, in our basement) a few hundred copies and boxed them up.
Shockingly, we eventually sold out of them. So in 2009, we decided to put out a paperback version.
This, my friends, was the start of something. I just didn’t know it at the time.
In those four years, I’d learned so much about writing and the publishing industry! So I totally rewrote the book. I cut it from over 200,000 words to a “reasonable” (ahem) 180,000 (yes, that’s still two normal-sized books. Insert me shrugging, LOL). Kindle was just getting on its feet, so we put up an e-book.
And over the next couple of years, this book that I loved so much, that had taken up so many of my thoughts for so many years, began to truly sell. WhiteFire began to grow. Through this book, we gained the attention of other writers and began adding them to our list. In ten years, we went from a publisher with just me to a publisher with 50 authors and 115 titles. In that same ten years, I went from having that one book out with my husband’s company to have 22 books out or under contract. It’s been quite a decade. And it really all started with that 2009 version of A Stray Drop of Blood.
In January, we looked down and realized that 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of this book as it is now. The 10th anniversary of WhiteFire as the publisher it’s become. 
That seemed big. So we decided to celebrate.
First, with another hardback. To harken back to that first version we literally hand-crafted (we’re not doing that this time, LOL. No apologies). Second, with a re-designed paperback (with typos corrected, haha). And third, with some bonus content. When I created the 2009 version, I also created a Companion Guide with some of my research, which had been available on my website. I added it directly to the book for all three of these new versions, including the digital one.
I am so, so excited to bring you this new version of this old book! I’m in love with the new cover. I’m in love with the idea of having a hardback-with-dust-jacket version again. And mostly, I’m in love with the idea of recognizing formally the journey that we’ve been on and thanking God for every step along the way.
Since the sequel to Stray Drop had been designed to coordinate, I redid the cover for it too. And I have to say, I’m just as in love with this new look, LOL. As I was reviewing the PDF for A Soft Breath of Wind before submitting it to the printer, I spot-read a bit here and there and was also reminded of how much I love this story, how God orchestrated things in ways I never would have dreamed to hand me the time to write it, seven years after the idea for it first came to me.
Last week, after I finished up some edits, I focused on getting these new versions ready to print. I had to pick a release date, so I just looked at the calendar and chose one that seemed logical. Only afterward did I realize that the date I selected — April 8 — is pretty significant.
April 8 is what David and I always celebrated as our dating anniversary. Which would be the date that began this journey. Because it was that decision–and the resulting argument with my best friend over it, LOL–that led me to sit down on the couch that Good Friday with my Bible a few hours later and read about the day. That’s what led to this story. So when I realized that the date I chose is, in fact, the anniversary of the short story…I had a “wow” moment.
So…yeah. I’m super excited about this re-release, as you can probably tell. ? And I’m also excited to be able to offer you bargain pricing on the Classic Edition if you’d like the chance to read it for cheap. Now, these are the original press run, which has some typos that have since been corrected–fair warning. ? But other than corrections and some styling, it’s the same as this newest version.
I realize not all of my readers are fans of biblical fiction, and that many prefer the lighter style of my historical romances (my bib-fic tends to be pretty intense). And of course, my writing has evolved a good bit since 2009. But I still love these books so, so much. And I’m so excited to celebrate the last decade of writing with you!
Would you be interested in seeing a
Behind the Design on the cover process for these two new ones?
If so, let me know in the comment section!
In case you’re curious about these books…
READ THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS
~*~
PURCHASE THE CLASSIC EDITION
~*~
PURCHASE THE 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION 
Hardback (Releases 4/8)
Paperback (Releases 4/8)
E-Book (Available now)
~*~
PURCHASE THE NEW PAPERBACK OF A Soft Breath of Wind
Word of the Week – Jumbo

Word of the Week – Jumbo

by | Mar 18, 2019 | Word of the Week

My daughter informed of this one, courtesy of her history book. =)

So we all know jumbo as “very large.” Even excessively large. But did you know it came from an elephant’s name? I didn’t!

In the 1880s there was an elephant in the London zoo called Mumbo Jumbo (because they thought it sounded African). The name may have even been influenced by the West African word for “elephant.” In 1882, Jumbo was sold to P. T. Barnum, where he became one of the stars of the famous American circus.

This is when the word Jumbo began to be well known. And it only took 4 short years for it to be used as a general word for size, especially for products! It’s especially noteworthy considering Jumbo, who Barnum reports was the biggest elephant he’d ever seen, was tragically struck by a freight train and killed in 1885 while the circus was loading up to move. =(

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