Tag Archives: writing

Cath-Lit Live Episode 24 — when the tables got turned on me!

Romance author Maddie Evans turned the tables on me for this one! She interviewed me about my new book Sweet Jesus, Is It June Yet? 10 Ways the Gospels Can Help You Combat Teacher Burnout and Rediscover Your Passion for … Continue reading

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“Crystallizing Experiences”: The Importance of Fiction and How “The Chosen” TV Series Ended up in My Dissertation

I’ve been meaning to write this for over a year now, but teaching during a pandemic (and writing a book about combating teacher burnout — which also mentions The Chosen!) rather derailed my plans. Now that season 2 of The … Continue reading

Posted in Historical, Reading, Teaching, TV, Writing, young adult | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

My next book!

Hello, old friends! It’s been over a year since my last blog post. Please forgive my neglect, but I’ve been hard at work on my doctoral program while trying to keep up with the demands of my teaching job–and working … Continue reading

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Top 8 Tips for Writing for Teens & Tweens

Last Sunday, I had to pleasure of joining a panel of authors from the Mystery Writers of America in a free workshop on writing for young readers. For those of you who weren’t able to make it, I thought I’d … Continue reading

Posted in Angelhood, Behind the Scenes, Middle Grade, Reading, Seven Riddles to Nowhere, Teaching, Writing, young adult | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

How I Plan to Spend My Longest/Shortest Summer Ever

I’m embarking on the longest summer I’ve ever known–and will probably ever know. Thanks to construction plans, we started school early this past year, which means we got out early. Furthermore, the construction will last long enough that we won’t … Continue reading

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Behind-the-scenes of one of my settings!

Last weekend, I went out and did some photo shoots of some of the Chicagoland locations used in my upcoming middle grade mystery Seven Riddles to Nowhere. In this video, I take you behind the scenes of the Chicago suburban … Continue reading

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Middle Grade, Mysteries, Seven Riddles to Nowhere, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Selling Your Books on Pinterest

In January, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Chicago chapter of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) about how to use Pinterest as a marketing tool for authors. If you missed it, you still have a chance to hear … Continue reading

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Why Christian Authors are Gaga over Star Wars

As the days drew closer and closer to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the hype and excitement online grew palpable. As more and more people talked about it on Facebook, I noticed that a great deal of … Continue reading

Posted in Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

How to create Pinterest pins that bring traffic to your author website

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to use Pinterest as an author, and a number of my author friends have asked me to share what I learned. Because Pinterest is a visual … Continue reading

Posted in Marketing, Writing | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Spin Cycle: Teaching and Writing

With all the book launch craziness going on lately, I haven’t had much time for blog posts, but I promised my launch team friend Ginny Marie that I’d get back on this blogging business! This week’s Spin Cycle topic of … Continue reading

Posted in Angelhood, Spin Cycle, Writing, young adult | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment