Audio sample (Jewel of Persia)!

Audio sample (Jewel of Persia)!

by | Jan 25, 2022 | Patrons & Peers

Exciting news! So a couple months ago, I signed a contract with Tantor Audio to produce my biblical fiction (A Stray Drop of Blood, A Soft Breath of Wind, and Jewel of Persia) as audio books. Yay!

Well, they’re doing the casting now! I thought it would be fun to share with you guys the narrators as we select them. (By “select,” I mean that they send me their choice and I can veto it or approve it, LOL.)

So this is the narrator for Jewel of Persia. They sent me another one first that I didn’t care for (personal preference, you know), but then they sent their second choice, Kim Bretton. I love how bright and cheerful she sounds–very appropriate for Kasia!

What do you think?

Check In 1.21.2022

Check In 1.21.2022

by | Jan 25, 2022 | Patrons & Peers

Hi, guys! Here’s my video update from Friday, January 21, 2022.

In case you don’t have time to watch, here’s the gist. =)

Writing this week has proven difficult . . . I got about 7,000 words written, but that’s just enough to cut it with a 2/15 deadline, so next week will have to be At Home Writing Retreat time. I’ll be going over to our office every day and doing NOTHING BUT WRITING, with a goal of 10K words every day.

I did at least get some design work done, and I also got the Groups.io email list set up for this group, so yay on that. =) It’s been great getting to know everyone!

Word of the Week – Mission

Word of the Week – Mission

by | Jan 24, 2022 | Word of the Week

When you look up mission in the dictionary, there are a LOT of definitions listed. A task a group is charged with. A calling or vocation. A group of people organized to carry out a certain task. A ministry. Then, in entry 5, you get the obsolete one: “the act of sending.”

Of course, if we’re looking at the history of a word, we should always start with the obsolete meaning, right? LOL.

Mission comes directly from the Latin missionem, which means “the act of sending, a dispatching; a release, a setting at liberty; discharge from service, dismissal.”

It’s literally a sending-forth. That’s also, obviously, where dismissal comes from. I hadn’t ever really examined the connection between those two until it was explained that the dismissal from a church service is not meant to be the pastor saying, “Okay, we’re done. Have a good day.” It’s literally saying, “You’ve now been filled with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God–go, take it into the world!”

A crucial distinction, isn’t it?

The word mission has been in English since the 1500s as “a sending forth.” By the 1640s, it referred to the organized effort of spreading the Gospel. The word mass is even older and from the same root, being the original word used for the religious service in which you receive communion and then are sent out into the world. Dismiss is from the early 1400s, but dismissal wasn’t created as a form until the 1790s! (Who knew?)

So remember, next time you leave a service, that we’re all sent out on a mission–to spread His light in the world.

Word of the Week – Religion

Word of the Week – Religion

by | Jan 17, 2022 | Word of the Week

The English word religion has been around a long time…like, as long as there was English. That’s no surprise, right? And also no surprise is that it has always carried the meaning of “action or conduct indicating belief in and reverence for a divine power one seeks to please” as well as “a life bound by monastic vows.”

What’s interesting is the root of this common word. It comes from Latin, which isn’t surprising either, but while the Latin religionem does indeed mean “respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods” and so on, Cicero is actually credited with creating this noun from the verb relegere, which literally means “go through it again” or “reread.”

Isn’t that interesting? I’d never thought about it that way, but systems of religion are indeed built on dwelling on thoughts, rereading sacred texts, going through it again and again and again. This is why pretty much every religion on the planet ends up with rites and rituals and creeds, Christianity being no exception. It’s through repetition that we learn a thing and discover its depths.

It’s also worth noting that many later ancients thought religionem was in fact derived from religare, which means “to bind fast.” So though we can, in fact, trace the word to Cicero, that “binding fast” has greatly informed its use and development as well.

Check In 1.14.2022

Check In 1.14.2022

by | Jan 14, 2022 | Patrons & Peers

Hi, guys! Here’s my video update from Friday, January 14, 2022.

In case you don’t have time to watch, here’s the gist. =)

My goal was to write 20,000 words this week, and so far I’m on schedule, with 16K written as of Thursday evening. I’m not sure I’ll actually hit my 4K goal today, because we’re heading down to the DC area this afternoon for dinner, but hopefully I can either get it in or make up for it over the weekend. Next week, more writing!

I have a new editor at Bethany House and got to meet her via Zoom yesterday, which was fun. And as you can see in the other post, I also got my first listen to the audio narrator selected for the Visibullis biblical fiction books!

My son, Rowyn, also had his 1-year lab work done after his Type 1 diagnosis, and I’m happy to report that everything else they check for–cholesterol, thyroid issues, Celiac (commonly go along with T1)–are are perfect!

It’s been so great getting to know all of you this week! Please chime in, either in comments here or in the app, with your updates or prayer requests!

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