This month’s flash fiction piece presents a meet cute, a first meeting. Will it turn into more? We love to remember the experience of meeting the person that makes our heart do somersaults and tingles dash over our arms. I met my husband on a blind date, and we were talking about engagement rings within…
Big news for this month, Matt Damon followed me on Twitter, and I don’t need you to tell me it’s not the real Matt Damon. I’m happy living in denial; however, I also experienced a Twitter hater. Yikes! More about that later but still waiting on Prince Harry to follow me. As October comes to an end,…
Lately, it seems, my life moves from one season of waiting to another. I would be willing to bet, too, that most people would share that sentiment. Maybe it’s because there are deep-seeded longings in my heart that are still at arm’s length, or maybe because I’ve reached the age where big milestones are spread…
In the South, when we invite you to a barbecue, the only meat being served will be slow smoked pork, so if you’re expecting hot dogs or hamburgers, you’d better head to a cook-out. What does this have to do with writing fiction? Everything because nothing is more distracting in a story than when an…
Some days I feel like such a fraud—as a writer, as a mother, as a Christian. How about you? I remember the first time I thought this. I was listening to a speaker at a Christian writers’ conference. A lot of people there thought I must be successful because I’d won a few awards and…
A published novel is always the work of a team. One of my favorite parts of books is the acknowledgment’s page. Go ahead and call me a book nerd, but I love to see all the people that have contributed to a finished manuscript. Almost always the name of a critique group will be included…
A few weeks ago, I was working on my book proposal and emailing it back and forth with my agent. My agent—every time I say that I feel like I did when I was first engaged and peppered my conversations with my fiancé. In one of the emails, I wrote, “I just want to make…
My two-year old niece proclaims, “patience is waiting with a happy heart.” Apparently, I gave her mother the book In This House, We Will Giggle by Courtney DeFeo. (DeFeo, Courtney. “Chapter 5,” In this House, We Will Giggle: Making Virtues, Love, and Laughter a Daily Part of Your Family Life, WaterBrook Press, 2014, p. 97)…
We live where the weeds pop from the field grass at the start of each spring. Much to my southern husband’s chagrin, those aggressive little plants don’t stop their onslaught for the next three months of summer. He claims, he’s never seen anything like it, and I believe him because—well, in the southern heat of…
What does the resurrection mean to me this year? It is hope. Two weeks ago with my family we celebrated the life of my name’s sake—my uncle Guy Leslie Kirby. He was the youngest of my father’s siblings, just turning 60 in February. He was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever…