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Middle Grade Fiction

Nancy Rue, NOT Nancy Drew

Nancy Rue, NOT Nancy Drew

“Because her name is easy to mistake with that of a certain blonde amateur sleuth in a little blue roadster, Nancy Rue often finds more name recognition than she expects. This is somehow fitting, because it was partly her childhood admiration for Nancy Drew – in the...

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Painting the Rainbow by Amy Gordon

Painting the Rainbow by Amy Gordon

  Painting the Rainbow is a beautiful, multi-generational story of the Greenwood family’s summer reunion. The Greenwoods appear healthy, supportive of one another, ideal—except for the mystery of Jesse’s death more than twenty years earlier. Thirteen-year-old...

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5 Avenues of God’s Love in Our Lives

5 Avenues of God’s Love in Our Lives

I was supposed to be a Christian, growing up in a family who went to church. Mom, Dad, and four kids. I earned pins for Sunday School attendance. I believed in Jesus as the Savior of the world. And yet. Something was missing. An indefinable empty space. My rebellious...

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GIVEAWAY! What’s Your Best Title?

GIVEAWAY! What’s Your Best Title?

A giveaway for readers who love fiction.  I would love your help. Sparkles from Silence needs a new title. And if you can come up with a title that resonates with me and the message of the book, you can win a $10 Amazon gift card! Here's what's wrong with the original...

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Our Power to Save

Our Power to Save

Whenever I pick up The Bronze Bow, a beautiful novel by Elizabeth George Speare, another vital life lesson strikes home. I used to read it every year to my fifth grade class. And every year, I couldn’t make it through the whole book without breaking down into tears...

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Families Aren’t Like That Anymore

Families Aren’t Like That Anymore

"Families aren't like that anymore." I've heard this comment repeatedly from my critique groups and beta readers of Sparkles from Silence as Debbie and her family pull together as a team. I understand what they mean, and their comment saddens me. What has changed?...

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Submissions, Prayers, and Christmas

Submissions, Prayers, and Christmas

SUBMISSIONS I have spent December revising and polishing Sparkles from Silence because... I was working on deadline! Right after Thanksgiving, both an agent and an editor asked to see the complete manuscript. You can see why the novel took priority over every other...

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Written Once Upon a Time

Written Once Upon a Time

A few months ago, Mom handed me a fat file of papers that my late grandmother had collected. She suggested I might find items that would contribute to my book series World Without Sound. God bless Grandma! Our letters to her send me right back to childhood. Here is...

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As YOU Wish

As YOU Wish

“That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying, ‘As you wish,’ what he meant was, ‘I love you.’” So goes the narration early in the movie, The Princess Bride. It’s been almost thirty years since The Princess Bride was released. Like the little boy...

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Thank you

Thank you

As I continue to learn how to manage an author website and place pertinent information on it for your interest, I want to thank you, my first year's subscribers, for your support. 2018 will bring you more excerpts from Sparkles from Silence and tidbits about growing...

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Veterans Day

Veterans Day

I was Daddy's girl. I'm sure my sister would tell you she was Daddy's girl, too. Our father had the gift of making sure each child felt special. If you have been reading excerpts of Sparkles from Silence, you know that our father was a fighter pilot in the United...

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I Was a Bossy Little Thing!

I Was a Bossy Little Thing!

Tricia (Krista) handed me a thick file of old letters when I last visited with her. A treasure trove of our past! I'll share little nuggets as I find them. Here is the first, my letter to Grandma, before I knew there was going to be a fourth baby. My grammar skills...

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