Encouragement
On Writing and Pursuing Your Passion
Writers produce through passion. Everyone is happier when pursuing a passion. “I’ve boiled life down to two ways you can live,” Palmer Chinchen writes in True Religion. “One, you can live optimistically and full of passion; or, two, you can live pessimistically and full of apathy. I’m convinced that if God has your heart, you will…
Mackinac Island: The Perfect Setting for Romance
The website for Mackinac Island, Michigan, contains this fun question: “Is romance in your soul?” On this small island nestled in Lake Huron in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you can step back in time and tap into a slower pace that allows your inner romantic to escape. The island has the magical quality that I love…
I Will Persist Until I Succeed
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” ~ Charles Spurgeon ~ As a writer, I know if I don’t persevere I will never succeed. Rejections can destroy even the best of writers. Yet perseverance didn’t come naturally to me like the snail gunning for Noah’s ark. He knew if he didn’t keep going, he would…
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…
Time Management 101: How to Do it All!
“How do you do it all?” Is the #1 question I get. I have to start by saying that I’ve worked through many of these things with my life coach Judy Baer. She helps me “think through” trouble areas of my life and find a solution … what a concept! I realize the “life” doesn’t…
The Eve of Triumph
by Ron Estrada To me, this day before Easter is almost as holy as the day itself. Imagine that day, the Jewish Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and reflection. And what were the followers of Christ reflecting on that day? The death of the man they thought was the Messiah. The end of…
Story Ideas: While I am Sleeping
Many of my story ideas for my books come while I am sleeping. Dreaming is like watching a movie for me! I dream in plots and stories some time. Other ideas I believe God just pops into my head. Not to sound super spiritual, but it’s true. Some of the stuff I come up with…
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…
Here Comes the Messiah: April Fools!
Are we any different than the followers of Jesus who laid palm branches on the ground for him to pass over into Jerusalem? It was his triumphal entry. The symbolic proclamation that the Messiah had come and would change the course of history by taking his rightful place as king…and set the Jews free from Roman…
Storytelling and Songs Still Pass from Generation to Generation
My grandson and I were working on his homework last week. He is studying the Inuit people. It took us five chapters before I realized that what we now call Inuit is what my old textbooks used to call Eskimos. Once I realized that, things made so much more sense! Another of the very intriguing…