In August of 2011 (wow..that’s a long time ago!), I attended Jon Acuff’s very first Quitter Conference, where I came away reeling from the fire-hose of motivation and inspiration and practical advice about how to recover, develop, and finally realize (as in make real) my dream of being a writer. (Which I did, by the way.) It works with any dream, really. Unless your dream is to marry Prince William and eventually take the throne as the Queen of England. I hate to tell you, but that one is a bit of a longshot, as Kate is already a bit […]

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Welcome to Fiction Friday. Every Friday I share with y’all a glimpse into the mind of Zach the Zombie and some of his friends. Last week, Zach found the perfect spot to climb the City wall. You know the drill–this is not really edited much. I appreciate your grace and forgiveness…   Trees look different from above. Everything looks different when you’re hanging thirty feet up a stone wall by your rotting fingertips. I glance up and wonder if this is going to work. My heart pumps just a little faster. Then I look down. Mistake. My head snaps back; I […]

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…a manifesto for the discouraged   Recently, I posted these words: When you start chasing a dream, it’s new, it’s fresh. You feel inspired. You decide on a focus. You start a blog to share your dream with the world. You set a schedule. Word counts, posting goals. You tweet. You write. You watch as your traffic grows and you celebrate your tenth subscriber. There are hard times, too. There are days when you really just want to stay in bed, but you get up and you slog it out. There are days when the words don’t come easy. You […]

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The Sloth has left the building. While the Week Of Sloth wasn’t quite as slothful as planned, it was a restful, restorative time, and I’m thankful to Mark, the girls, and God for aligning things to make it all work for my good. I needed it. But now it’s time to hustle again. It would be easy to settle into a routine of sleeping in, spending a nice long quiet time with a cup (or three) of coffee, watch the squirrels for a while, then putter around the house, root around on facebook, and spend a couple hours editing and […]

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Welcome to Fiction Friday. Every Friday I share with y’all a glimpse into the mind of Zach the Zombie and some of his friends. Today, Zach and Arthur devise a plan to get into the city. You know the drill–this is not really edited at all, and yes, this scene needs a lot more flesh…so to speak. It’s on the rewrite list! I appreciate your grace and forgiveness for all the flaws! 🙂   Dammit! You’d think as many times as I’ve done this, I’d start tripping over a different rock. Maybe my brain is starting to rot? Or maybe I’m just an idiot! There […]

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