I never wanted to be a writer. The written word was for people whose brains operated differently than mine. Much of college was dodging professors who assigned papers in favor of those who leaned on exams. Grad school was an exercise in getting papers finished as efficiently and quickly as possible. Being an analytical thinker…
My husband and I live in an apartment across from a farmer’s field (it’s one of those situations where the city has inched outwards: parking lots and residential neighbourhoods on one side of the road, farmland on the other). I love looking out the window and seeing open space instead of traffic lights, and the…
It’s award season in the Christian literary world. Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with writing contests. Being named a finalist or winner is wonderful for promotion, affirmation, celebrating great writing, and receiving helpful feedback from judges. For those reasons, I do enter a book into one or more contests most years that I have…
We wanted to take a break from our usual blog posts to highlight some news from our authors. Our authors continue to impress us with their growing lists of awards, both with their MBI books and those not published with us. (You can see the list of their MBI awards here.) This year, we have…
When was the last time you cracked open a book that you really wanted to read? Reading for work or school doesn’t count. I’m talking about that pile accumulating on your nightstand or in an electronic device. I get it. Reading can be hard to fit in. I shared five ways to make time for…
It has been said often that refusing to forgive someone is like drinking poison and hoping that your enemy dies. In many ways, this is true. Unforgiveness is often far more damaging to the one holding on to it than to the one who has committed the offense. God knows that, and He doesn’t want…
I’m a wife, stay-at-home mom, writer, and editor, so I balance quite a few hats and don’t have a lot of free time. When my son was born, I knew I wanted to be a mom first and foremost, so I decided only to work during his naps and whenever I had babysitting help. This…
In 2006 I attended a “Girlfriends Night Out” fellowship at my church. The speaker asked us to rewrite Mary’s conversation with Gabriel beginning in Luke 1:29, but using our names and making it personal. During that period in my life, my children were slowly drifting into their own lives. I knew being a full-time mom…
[Jessica Sly] 7 Types of Books on a Reader’s Shelves
Reading is a gift. It has the ability to transport us away to new times and places, to teach us a brand-new skill, and to give us a way to relax and recharge. Some of us are casual readers, while others are hardcore, always-have-a-new-book-in-hand readers. But let’s face it. No matter what type of reader…
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