On a warm Saturday afternoon, our ten-year old neighbor from Italy stopped by. He’s lived in our community for several years, and I often enjoy chatting with him. He and the rest of the neighborhood gang were taking a break from playing soccer to have an impromptu picnic. One kid brought strawberries, another grapes. My…
I stepped out my door yesterday evening to find a sky of the gentlest, most kindly gray imaginable, every edge and angle softened by a pale, pearled light. Come sunset though, that mild sky had leapt up into a wildly riotous shout of color, the sharp black outlines of the pines at the end of…
Whenever people ask what I’ll do with an English degree, I have a ready answer: “I have no idea.” Unlike engineering or nursing students, an English major’s career path treads in ambiguity. I became an English major not because I had a specific career in mind, but because I wanted to sharpen my skills as…
Whenever we’ve looked for a new house, a big yard for my children always remains on my list of “non-negotiables.” Both my husband and I grew up with not only large yards but access to the forest without any houses in sight the moment we stepped out of the back door. This gave both of…
When we were training for foster care, we were asked to list our five most sustaining relationships, comforts, or interests. Then the trainer called out numbers, and we had to cross off things. I had to cross off my husband, my home, my books. The trainer called out another number. I crossed off my church…
Note: this article first appeared at The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/writer-words-offerings/ Last Thanksgiving, the high school writers’ workshop I teach concluded the semester with “cookies and Q&A.” Students put aside their writing assignments, and instead of unpacking excerpts from the Puritans, we munched snickerdoodles and talked about the more granular details of the writerly life. A talented group…
Imagine a pitch black sound stage. Cue a single spotlight. Enter Walt Disney. He speaks. It is not his own voice, but that of a wicked queen, a magic mirror, and a fair, but forlorn maiden. He acts out an entire story of betrayal, jealousy, friendship, and love. …
Most of the following words were written last spring in a post on Caringbridge. Earlier this year, my 39 year old (seemingly healthy) husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. We are now on a journey with cancer that we never would have chosen. But God has made His presence known to us and…
If I’m being honest, I like to be a little afraid of the story. Epic fantasy stories—where the fate of an entire kingdom is at stake; love stories—when it seems as if those crossed stars will never align; and grand adventures—when I’m praying that my favorite characters will make it home alive, and whole. I…
I’ve been working on a novel for about two years. I have 10 completed chapters, which amounts to some 20,000 words. If you had told me a couple years ago that I could write 20,000 words of the same story, I would have scoffed at you—ha!—but I’ve learned so much in those two years that…
My husband was uncharacteristically silent after our church service on New Year’s Eve. After the kids had finally gone to bed — for real this time, without the tromp of footsteps down the stairs announcing one last drink of water or one last comment about Pokemon — we nestled into the rare quiet, and he…
One blustery autumn weekend I drove a few hours west to Fort Wayne Indiana, and had a blast talking with a room full of creative people about writing stories for children. In the process, we discussed an idea that influences both my writing and my reading of stories. (And I’m reading fiction almost constantly.) As…
