Hard to believe it’s less than 30 days before Christmas!
Enjoy the full version of this year’s Hobby Lobby advert. It should make you smile. As someone wrote, “It’s an entire Hallmark movie in 1:21.”
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On this Thanksgiving Day, let us approach this new season with a sense of peace and the constant reminder that the Lord is in control. I post this well-known prayer in hopes you might appreciate reading it again. From St. Francis of Assisi: Prayer for Peace Lord, make me an …
For fountain pens and India ink, Legal pads and time to think, Olivetti, Underwood, Selectric, Typewriters both manual and electric, Typing paper, carbon paper, Correction ribbon and Liquid Paper, Dictionaries and thesauri, Keyboards, touchpads, countless styli, Strunk and White and Zinsser too, Staples, tape, and Elmer’s Glue, Desktops, laptops, iPads, …
Here are the show notes for the most recent episode of the Christian Publishing Show. You can listen to this episode here. Children’s books are the fastest growing segment of publishing in 2020. There was a time a few months ago when The Very Hungry Caterpillar was in the …
There is a verse in scripture which sets out in bold relief the great besetting problem of the human race. It is Romans 1:21: ‘for even though we knew God…we did not give thanks.’ Astonishing! How can we actually know God and not give thanks? Scarcely a day passes in which we are not deluged by at least a hundred instances of God’s goodness to us. Thanksgiving ought to be the most natural of human reflexes, as spontaneous as drawing breath.
Doubtless there are a plethora of reasons why we do not feel thankful. Perhaps business is stressful, or marriage is disappointing, or parenting is unfulfilling, or health is deteriorating, or school is unrewarding. Or maybe we simply take for granted God’s goodness to us.
How important it is, then, to rehearse frequently all that God does for us. Only then will an unending torrent of thanksgiving be unleashed from our hearts. Nowhere is God’s goodness more compellingly set out in His word. Immerse yourself in what follows, luxuriate in the story of God’s grace to you. . . and be thankful!
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Who is like the Lord our God? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth . . . and who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. How majestic is His name . . . When we consider His heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars which He has ordained, what are we that He should take thought of us?
Did you notice that today can be rendered as 11202020? Just thought I’d mention it. Has nothing to do with today’s video–unless you want it to! Aaron Yoder has been the world’s fastest backwards runner. He can run the mile in under six minutes, backwards. How many of you can …
Most writers love the idea of a film company bringing their books to life. However, if past movies based on books serve as examples, most authors can’t count on their stories being presented with complete accuracy, hence, the phrases “adaption” and “based on” the novel. Take the book Elmer Gantry, …
Writers are readers. Right? Of course, right. In fact, I’d say that if you’re not a devoted, even voracious reader, you might not want to pursue writing for publication, as reading and writing tend to go hand-in-hand. But do writers read differently than other people? And if so, how? I …
by Steve Laube
Last week I was asked to define what is meant when an author is deemed “high maintenance” by an agent or a publisher. The more I thought about this the more I realized how difficult it is to quantify. Any attempt to do so is fraught with potential misunderstanding because most people are looking for specific rules to follow.
Normally “high maintenance” is a description of someone who is difficult to work with or is constantly in need of attention. It can be anyone from a “diva” to a “rookie.” The best way to express the issue is in the following word picture:
When you contract with an agent or a publisher you are granted a large measure of “Good Will” in the form of a bag of gold coins. You are free to spend these coins however you wish during the course of the business relationship. The cover design is completely wrong? Spend some coins. The marketing plan appears weak. Spend some coins. And as time goes by and positive things happen you receive more gold coins for your bag.
However, many authors make the mistake of spending their entire bag of coins the first time something goes wrong. And then the next time they need a favor or a special dispensation there isn’t any “Good Will” left.
I think there are three areas where these relationships can break down.
Today’s video is one of those brilliant and clever mashups of video clips matched to a familiar song. According to its creator, not a single clip was sped up or slowed down to match the music. It has the appearance of a master choreographer! Can you name all the movies …
