When a writer attempts to write a story with serious intent and hopes to, at the least, touch some hearts, make readers feel either positive or negative emotional responses, and leave a lingering association with them as the pages end, it's unsettling to realize there are no guarantees that even his/her best…

                           http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Certain%20Jeopardy%20by%20Jeff%20Struecker%20and%20Alton%20Gansky If you want authentic military thrills, Captain Jeff Struecker teams with author Alton Gansky to put together an intense story about a journey to Venezuela that morphs into something totally unexpected, acutely dangerous and, as things go terribly awry, with little chance of succeeding. Going from observation status to "certain…

      I wrote this post on titles last year: http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/into_the_fire/2012/03/titles-of-novels.html. Are you satisfied with the titles you've attached to your work? Is naming your stories a struggle for you? I love titles with dual meanings. The innuendoes surface somewhere along the pages of the novel, or the title takes place in conversation between characters and gives relevance to…

  The floodgates of the heavens are opened,   the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken up,   the earth is split asunder,   the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard,   it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of…

                     Who can know them? Once in awhile we are given notice of impending actions, but most of the time we are called by faith to believe in what we cannot see, to trust not in ourselves, and to walk in the Spirit. It's a tough go. But it's the best "go". Lee Hough…

                            Writers know all about alter egos. They usually have many. They have to. The good, the bad, the ugly, and all the squishy parts in between those familiar identifications. If we can't look deep inside ourselves to find the essence of many characters, we often manage to make them cliché. Of course we hope…

    King and Maxwell is entertaining, laying the groundwork for the continuation of this series. I like it. Good chemistry between the actors Jon Tenney (playing Sean King) and Rebecca Romjin (playing Michelle Maxwell), not bad writing which I think will improve as more history is laid down for the characters. Anyone else watching…

      Either you are or you aren't. A writer. Creative or otherwise. Yes or no. Enough of the foolish declarations and self-doubts, false humility, fearful murmurings of how you can't really call yourself a writer. Enough! Pick one: writer or not. Being "published" does not define you. It no more makes you a…

                                 The relative definitions of "right" and "wrong" from those who choose not to believe in a deity or choose to define creator as superior-intellectual aliens or as some abstract fluid and distant entity far removed from everyday life, naturally recoil at the biblical references to sin. Sin is a dirty word. Personal.…

  Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.   Hebrews 13:7-8 (NIV)