I think many of you know I had put off writing Mari's book for a little while but I may not have gone into why I did so. Through different writing forums I became apart of I found out the book I had completed would be a great one for family and friends as long as that is where it ended. But if I wanted it to be read by more than just people I knew then it needed to be done in a completely different way. One thing I kept being told is I needed to add fiction elements to her book. At first … [Read more...]
A new weekly column introduced
I am excited and proud to announce my new Thursday weekly column. It will be centered around this question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Starting July 12, my first guest blogger tells us about her writing journey and how God has worked in it. I hope all the stories that are posted on this site will touch your life like they have mine already. If you're interested in sharing your journey, please click on 'The Journey' Request at the top of this page. Then fill out the … [Read more...]
The Unsung Hero of the Army, Part 1
About three and half years ago I sat down one evening and interviewed someone who is very near and dear to me: my husband Keith. I did this as an assignment for my creative writing nonfiction college class I was taking at the time. I thought I would share this interview with all of you now. My sincerest hope is you will be as moved as those I initially shared this with. As it is about 3,000 words long, this will be broken up into two segments. One today and one tomorrow. Please comment and let … [Read more...]
Featured Book: To Protect & Serve
To Protect & Serve is written by Staci Stallings. It is the first book The Courage Series. Here is the book blub: To save others' lives, they will risk their own... Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman's fireman. He's not afraid of anything, and no situation is too dangerous to keep him on the sideline if lives are at stake. Lisa Matheson runs a semi-successful ad agency that's on the brink of falling apart. Her employees are incompetent and her schedule has become … [Read more...]
The amazing fiction writing journey
I sit at home after having spent a day going through email and editing the next chapter in my book with my main character Katalina Russo. As I sat going through the many critiques received for the chapter, I ran into one that put to the side until the end as it talked about how I could add more to the scene, basically as the saying goes with writers, I could add some meat and flesh to the bones. So I contemplated on how to better bring to life the scene. In the end, this person was right. … [Read more...]
The “Softening”
In a month, Mari will have been gone for four years. I have talked several times over the last four years in how the day she died is not an anniversary as this signifies happiness to me. My eighteen year wedding anniversary was this past February. That is a happy time. Mari’s death, anything but. However, I have come to call it the mark. When Mari died I became wrapped up in the utter sorrow and sadness of it all. My heart felt like it had been ripped open and a gaping would left in its … [Read more...]
God’s many blessings
As I sit here and go through my emails this fine evening as well as critiquing some of my fellow writer's works in progress, I think about how much I truly love to write. I am not one of those people who felt called to write at the tender age of seven years old and then knew throughout their life this is what they wanted to do. In fact, through high school English was so hard for me that it never even crossed my mind. However, it's amazing when God has other plans for your life. His plans … [Read more...]
Being Thankful
You know the old saying, “God works in mysterious ways?” Well, I so believe that can happen in so many different ways. I think back on my writing journey and I’m amazed at where it has ended up. I first started looking at how to publish Mari’s book on March 5, 2011. I joined Createspace. It is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It was really neat to be part of a community of writers for the first time in my life. For me, I had no interest whatsoever in fiction writing. All I was looking for was … [Read more...]
I would like to introduce you to…
If you are new to my writing, you may not know I also have another website in dedication to my beloved angel in heaven. Please take a moment to stop by and check it out. This website is apart of me and if you would like to get to know me better as a writer, please stop by to see what I have to say over there. My latest post is called Hitting "The Mark." http://mommysangelinheaven.com/2012/05/22/hitting-the-mark/ My sincerest hope is that my writing may touch your life in some way. Thank … [Read more...]
Needing prayer please
It has come to my attention by a close friend that I may need to rewrite some of what I wrote below. My husband is the love of my life and in no way do I want to shed him in a bad light. If I have done that I am truly sorry. I will put *** by the part where I have rewritten this post so you know where to start if you are looking for the update. Thank you. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ I am reaching out right now to all my … [Read more...]
