MidWeek Motivation
Character Goals and Motivation
A goal is like an agenda. Something the character wants. It has to be hard to get. Readers like to see the character struggle. They like to know what the character wants, but they have absolutely no idea how she’ll get it. Your audience wants to live moment-by-moment through your character’s life, feeling all the…
Jonah Vine
Jonah 4:6 Then the Lord provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was happy. Remember what happened to Jonah after he finally went to Nineveh? He sat back and rested under a vine that God gave him. And when that…
Writing Interruptions are Not Wasted!
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore , take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having…
Thoughts on Passion
It’s a popular perception of writers, based at least a bit in reality, that we tend toward the eccentric. Maybe even a little obsessive. We’re known for things like keeping odd hours and stashing pens and paper in the car or on the nightstand; for saying things like “That’d make a great story,” or “I…
Are You Weary in the Waiting?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV It seems that if a writer isn’t writing, then she’s waiting… Waiting to get edits back from a critique partner.Waiting to hear from…
He Cries When We Cry!
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. —Psalm 30:5 Sometimes, the hardest time to write or talk is when your going through an inner conflict of the heart, of the mind, of the spirit. When everything within you cries out no more, no more!! Yet it is through those tears,…
Coffee Cup Ministry
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples–when they see the love you have for each other.” (John 13:34-35 – The Message) I remember a number of years ago when I…
Whose Point of View
Psalm 37:30 – The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. The greatest jolt for a reader is to be absorbed into a story, sensing the urgency of the dangers, feeling the onset of emotions, being carried away by the events, when all of a sudden, the story…
Job: Questions Without Answers
by Mike Dellosso One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Job. Poor Job. He loses everything very tragically except his wife who only discourages him and tells him to “curse God and die.” Thanks, Babe. Thanks for nothing. Something that strikes me about the account is Job’s honesty and bluntness…
Pass the Antelope, Please
Matthew 6:19-20 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Ranch exit. That’s never a good road…