Last Sunday night, I teetered on the edge of my seat in front of the TV as two seventh-generation members of the Flying Wallendas successfully traversed a 1,300-foot tightrope strung 25 stories above Times Square. While harnessed to a wire above them, they had eschewed a net. It took Nik and his sister, Lijana, 37…
Category: Writing
Book Lovers, Unite!
I love public libraries so much that I’m a member of two systems—Gwinnett County and Hall County—and serve on the fundraising arm for the latter. I’m a firm believer in keeping library services free to all. Today, libraries across our nation are asking for your donations to supplement what the government provides. According to an…
Libraries & Authors
Did you know that in the U.S., authors don’t receive payment each time readers check out books from libraries? However, if you listen to a song on Spotify, the artist receives $.0005. That half of a penny could add up. Last year, Spotify paid cellist Zoe Keating $12,231 to stream her music. Can you imagine…
The Haunted Heinz Mansion
A spooky true story for the Halloween season: I saw a ghost when I was fifteen years old. Or, maybe it was someone pretending to be a ghost. I had begged my parents to let me accompany my English teacher and four other members of our school’s literary magazine staff to see Sylvia Plath’s “The…
Race to your Kindle!
I’m thrilled to announce that not one, not two, but THREE of my writing partners published books in the last month. It’s so exciting to see a book I critiqued make to it print. Julane Fisher, who lives on the other side of the lake from me (45 minutes by car), released Sour Lemon and Sweet…
Why did I start writing Christian fiction for teens?
All my life, I’ve written for someone else—grade school teachers, college professors, newspaper editors, magazine publishers, corporate managers and high-tech clients. I was established. Why would I want to give up a steady salary to wear out my keyboard in the risky book publishing industry? God. Yep, He nudged me. In fact, He all but…