You’re blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom,
when you make friends with Madame Insight.

Proverbs 3:13 (msg)

Recently Pastor Aman of an Arabic Christian church preached in our morning worship. A translator stood to his right, sometimes looking puzzled. Pastor Aman repeated his phrases and the translator would smile and give us his English version.

Before giving us his scripture for the day, Pastor Aman said, “One day I followed a taxi with a bumper sticker that said:

Don’t follow me because I myself am lost.”

What a great bumper sticker for writers. We need to choose wisely in whom we follow, Jesus first, author fan pages with wisdom and good informational blogs. No matter the genre we write, we need to study God’s Word, and ask Him to guide our minds and fingers.

These Proverbs spoke to me today:

 Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; 

   don’t for a minute lose sight of them.
They’ll keep your soul alive and well…
No need to panic over alarms or surprises, 

   or predictions that doomsday’s just around the corner,

Because God will be right there with you;
he’ll keep you safe and sound.

Proverbs 3:21-22, 25-26 (msg)

Prayer: Father, thank you for reminding me to guard my mind and soul. Thank you, too for the promise You will be with and guide us in all our ways—if we but ask. Amen

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

The scripture is speaking about renewing our minds and lives in spiritual and moral growth—a continual process. It takes a conscious effort to keep our lives in tune with our Savior. The world around us is in change, we make choices to go with the flow or choose what God desires for our lives.

Recently I read what Robert Lee Brewer said in the 2012 Writer’s Market says: “Of course, things have changed dramatically Read the rest of this entry »

photo: Colleen Hughes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 (niv)

A few weeks back I read a post where Cec Murphey said, “When we try to correct sloppy writing we don’t have to become sesquipedalians (look it up). Say it in direct, easy-to-understand words. If we do, we communicate. Get it? We actually communicate with readers and they
understand what we mean.

I looked up Sesquipedalians. It means “given to using long words.” The Latin sesquipedalis means measuring a foot and a half. Read the rest of this entry »

It took a bit for me to convince my retired husband to write a story for an anthology.

“Hon, Jeannette says she needs more stories from men, I don’t qualify.”

“I’m not the writer, you are.”

“You’ve told me many stories of how you knew God sent someone to help you at just the right time.” I could tell it had to be Gary’s idea. I dropped the subject.

The next day Gary said what’s the title of the book you mentioned? “God Encounters.”

A few days later he handed me his story, “Messengers of Light.” Read the rest of this entry »

On June 7, 2012 I received my complimentary copy of, “Angels, Miracles and Heavenly Encounters.” This is the sixteenth compilation where I have one or more stories in a book.

It’s about eighteen months since I submitted a story to the supernatural anthology compiled by James Scott Bell and edited by Jeannette Littleton. The contract arrived and later the payment.

If I remember right, I started submitting to this type of book in 2005 after attending the Heart of America Christian Writers Conference where I met Jeanette and Mark Littleton.

For the first anthologies I wrote stories about Mom and Dad in “Soul Matters for Mothers” and “Soul Matters for Men.”

The payment for an anthology ranges from $25 a devotional to $100 for a full length article. Not a lot of money, but what a blessing to know stories about my life in Christ are published and read by people around the world.

Still Lionhearted, Kat

The 2012 “Called to Write” Conference in Pittsburg, Kansas twiggled my creative genes. Why?

Over the years I’ve attended many conferences where the focus was the mechanics of writing and meeting editors and publishers. Rush from workshop to workshop. Although I enjoy the conferences, eat them up and can’t wait for the next one, the workshops of CWC this year were more visual—more me.

Stephanie Grace Whitson shared photos of her messy office. (Mine’s worse.) She talked about how she created her characters from old photos she bought at auctions and showed quilt pieces she used to craft a story.

In the Junior High a teacher asked each of us to write something about our childhood. I have no idea what I wrote, but I remember I received an A+ and the teacher commented on my work in the classroom. From that point on, I wanted to write.

Why? Because the teacher and class applauded or because I’d found a niche where I fit? Read the rest of this entry »