Life-Transforming Fiction

Proclaiming Freedom

A few years ago I attended a fiftieth anniversary celebration at a church I once served as youth pastor. I was surprised to see how much and how little had changed in those fifteen years since serving there. I arrived just after the opening worship had begun, and quietly sat near the back of the church. A few old-timers stared inquisitively at me from the other side of the sanctuary, and then recognition soon ignited smiles on their faces, along with a quick nod or wave. 

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Diary Of A Crazy Writer

When God Says No

When I discovered that American Christian Fiction Writers was going to hold their annual conference in St. Louis this year, I was elated. Since the designated location was only about a forty-minute drive from where I live, I knew I’d be able to attend my first writer’s conference.

Or so I thought.

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Quantum Marketing

Your Publisher Doesn’t Do Book Trailers?

What does a pretty good Book Trailer tell the consumer about an excellent book? That the novel is pretty good, as well. But people don’t want a pretty good book. They want a great book.

So what do you do if your publisher doesn’t do high quality trailers or can’t afford a great Book Trailer or you don’t have the skills to make one yourself? What can you do to stand out?

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Character Therapy

Is Your Heroine Too Dominant?

Simpering misses and damsels in distress seem to be out of fashion these days. Rarely do I pick up a book and read about a heroine who is sickly, pale, and teary-eyed all the time. Instead, we have strong female leads—some magical mixture of Lara Croft, Mother Teresa, and Maya Angelou—who populate our fiction.

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She Reads

An Interview with
Susan Meissner

A Sound Among the Trees is set in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in both the current day and during the Civil War, and all the action takes place inside the same house, Holly Oak. The book is told in five parts, starting with the garden, then the parlor, the former slaves’ quarters, the cellar, and then all of Holly Oak itself.

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