The Storyteller | Mary Vee

Today we welcome author:  Shirley Kiger Connolly To win a copy of Shirley's new release: Not Quite an Angel Scroll to the end of the post  to see how to get your copy. Mary Vee here. Fancy this. My first writing course was with the Institute of Children's Literature. I can't express enough kudos for this writing program. I took all the courses including the advanced ones and owe much of what I know to it. Years later, I still refer to my binders containing lessons and my textbooks. What does this have to do with Shirley?  I met Shirley at the ACFW conference. She was so friendly, took time to chat with me. Totally amazing. I heard about her new release and asked her to be a guest with us. The connection did happen until I SAW her name. I am a visual learner. Hearing her name didn't click. The instant I saw her name in our exchange of emails, I remembered she was one of the faculty at the Institute

Photo by Mary Vee I walked this mountain trail on my own while daughter was in college classes. Mountains around Tucson, Arizon As a child, I tended to be the one who found trouble. I was a number two kid. Followed my older sister around, didn't mind riding out of the neighborhood on my bike, looked for ways to get out of weeding Mom's flower garden, and hated vegetables. In my own defense, I didn't know which were flowers and which were weeds. Yeah, I had a lot of talks with Dad. He did the talking, I did the listening. I loved/love adventure. If I could choose between sitting with a group of people having tea and chatting, and dragging those same individuals on a ride along a mountain pass with sheer drop offs, guess which I'd pick? Then it should be no surprise that I am having a wonderful time delving into the life of Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary to India. On this family and kids of all ages blog: God Loves Kids, I have missionary Mondays. We wal

Today we welcome author:  Sarah Varland To win a copy of Sarah's new release: Tundra Threat Scroll to the end of the post  to see how to get your copy. Sarah is the middle of one of those moves. The kind where you move across country and have to change everything. Wow. I've done that twice and can say, hold on, Sarah--there is a light at the end of this huge tunnel!! From her hotel, she is hopping in to visit with us.  I asked Sarah to share  how God has led her on her writing journey. Here is what she said: God Works in Funny Ways I had been writing seriously for almost a decade by the time I got married and had kids. This dream I’d been chasing, that logically it seemed would have been better accomplished by my younger, single self, still hadn’t seen it’s end. I wrestled with it, probably cried over it. Then finally I realized that my family was an even greater dream, and that even if

Last week we discussed choosing one words for this year. Last year I chose: I think God gave me many opportunities to practice. Opportunities I'm thankful for. For any of you who put your word in the comment section last week or in the weeks to come, I will send you a copy of the One-Word certificate below with your name and word for you to print out as long as you include your email address.  Here is my one word for 2015: I chose  the word driven because I've been feeling rather lazy lately. It's cold. Great ideas pop in my head, I make plans and at the end of the day, only a few have happen. I want to be driven to serve God.  Okay, time for some God shine driven. I really don't want to waste a single day that God has blessed me with or a single task. The Bible says our time is like a breath. That means I need to do better with each day serving  Him the best I can. Am I off to a perfect start? Nope. Is God helping me? Yep . Here are some way

Today we welcome author:  Naomi Rawlings To win a copy of Naomi's new release: Falling for the Enemy Scroll to the end of the post  to see how to get your copy. Talk about a small world. As Naomi and I were chatting about this weekend's visit, we found out we grew up close to each other, have visited the same places (and these were obscure locations), and had many of the same interests. Isn't it awesome when God brings people together to learn they had so much to share?  I simply had to ask her to join us and share  how God has led her on her writing journey, knowing it would be exciting. Here is what she said: God's Blessings through Tragedy I’ve always been an insanely big book lover. My mom used to kick me out of the house in the summer and tell me I’d spent too long reading and I needed to go outside and do something. (Um, like reading wasn’t doing something? I still don’t underst